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ESSAYS, 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS 



E. THOMSON, D. D., LL. D, 



EDITED BY 



REV. D. W. CLARK D. D. 




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PUBLISHED BY L. SWORMSTEDT & A. POE, 

FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, AT THE WESTERN BOOK CONCERN, 
CORNER OF MAIN AND EIGHTH STREETS. 



R. P. THOMPSON, PRINTER. 
1856. 



*4» 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, 
BY SWORMSTEDT & POE, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District 
of Ohio. 



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SOME time since a valued friend of the author — 
Rev. Dr. Roe, a superannuated preacher of the 
Cincinnati conference — solicited permission to collect 
some essays and other papers that had appeared 
over my signature in different periodicals, or in other 
forms, within the last eighteen or twenty years, and 
publish them in a volume. 

An appeal to one's friendship it is difficult to re- 
sist ; and, reluctant as I was that my articles should 
appear in book form, I yielded, on condition that I 
should reyise and arrange them before they were 
sent to the press., 

Accordingly the Doctor issued a volume of " Essays, 
Educational and Religious," which, fortunately, met 
with an encouraging sale. 

Soon after he applied for the series of Letters 
which I had written for the "Western Christian Ad- 
vocate during my recent visit to Europe, with a view 
to their publication in a book; and these also were 

granted, in the hope that he might find them as sala- 

3 



4 PREFACE. 

ble as the former Volume, to the profits of both which 
he was heartily welcome. 

Just as they were prepared for the press, the Doc- 
tor, with my full consent— by no means necessary — 
sold his interest in both books to Messrs* Swormstedt 
& Poe, Cincinnati. 

Thereupon these enterprising Publishers expressed 
a wish that I should add other volumes to them, and 
generously offered me compensation for whatever ad- 
ditional matter I might furnish* The consideration, 
however, which chiefly moved me to comply with 
this request, was the desire to improve the arrange- 
ment which had previously been adopted* 

Upon consultation, it was agreed that the second 
part of the volume published by Dr* Roe, entitled 
" Religious Essays," should be omitted, and its place 
supplied by articles pertaining to education, so as to 
make the first volume homogeneous ; that the Letters 
from Europe should be published in a separate vol- 
ume; that a. third volume should consist of .Bio- 
graphical and Incidental Sketches ; and that a fourth 
should be made up in part of the matter comprising 
the second portion of the volume which appeared 
under Dr. Roe's direction, and in part of other 
essays of a kindred nature. 

The last is the volume that we here introduce.* 
The additional matter, the writer frankly acknowl- 
edges, was not prepared for the occasion, but taken 



PREFACE. 5 

rather at random from files of discourses, such as he 
is accustomed to write every week for the benefit of 
the youth under his care. 

Perhaps it would have been better to have selected 
essays all bearing upon some one topic — such as the 
Evidences of Revelation, or Theoretical or Practical 
Ethics — but to this there were objections. We have 
already a great many systematic works on such sub- 
jects, and, moreover, such unity would not accord 
with the variety of the previously-printed pages with 
which the new matter was to be combined. 

Some of these productions bear upon their face 
the evidence that they were called forth by particular 
public events ; it is hoped they will be none the less 
interesting on that account. 

Should the reader think they were written with a 
hurried pen, he would not be wrong ; should he com- 
plain of this, he would have the sympathies of the 
author. They should, indeed, have been carefully 
rewritten before they met the public eye; but such 
are the writer's engagements, that the only question 
with him was whether they should go to press in 
their present form or not at all. He preferred the 
latter alternative till he was overpersuaded by his 
friends, and by the circumstances in which they had 
placed him. 

As the essays are more in the style of verbal 
address than they would be if rewritten, they will, 



6 PREFACE. 

perhaps, be none the less acceptable to the greater 
part of my readers — the young. 

Although the book may present inaccuracies and 
errors, it is a satisfaction to the author to reflect 
that it contains no important principle or sentiment 
•which he regards with doubt or hesitancy — nothing, 
therefore, which he can not commit to a generous 
public with an earnest prayer for the Divine blessing. 

If it shall remunerate the Publishers, and, at the 
same time, awaken the attention, confirm the faith, 
strengthen the graces, or soothe the sorrows of some 
sluggish, inquiring, struggling, or suffering fellow- 
men, the writer will not regret its publication. 

Delaware, July 9, 1856. 



Contents. 



PAGE. 

The Bible Friendly to Reason 9 

Religious Meditation • 31 

The Sublimity of the Bible 45 

Unanimity Among Christians 58 

Discourse on Skepticism 81 

The Missionary Enterprise 104 

Missions Remunerative 117 

Christ as a Teacher 125 

Temperance 141 

Self-Knowledge 168 

Love of Truth 191 

The Duty of Benevolence 206 

Religious Excitement « 227 

The Pulpit and Politics 254 

Inspiration of the Bible 276 

Necessity of the Bible 298 

The Great Cure for Evils 314 

The Divine Glory 328 

Preaching Christ 345 

Music. 363 

7 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



%\t §i&U fnntfrln iff lumiu 

GENTLE reader, you, doubtless, value your mind above 
all other treasures; you will therefore put a high es- 
timate upon any thing which tends to improve it. The 
Bible has a greater influence in developing and cultiva- 
ting the intellect than any other book of which I have 
any knowledge. 

I grant that the chief object of the Bible is to show 
us the way of salvation; but in achieving this end it 
accomplishes many minor ones. Indeed, there is not a 
fiber of the body, nor a faculty of the soul, upon which 
it does not lay its hand of mercy — not a temporal inter- 
est or relation upon which it does not send forth a stream 
of blessings. Many look upon it as a book which, though 
suitable enough for the simple and the afflicted, has no 
attractions for strong and healthy minds. Now, ponder 
my argument against this error ; and that I wander not 
from the point, let me state my proposition : 

The Bible promotes the development and cultivation 
of the intellect. 

It enlarges the foundations of knowledge. Neither in 

things natural nor supernatural can we proceed a step 

without primary truths. That there are such truths 

must be apparent; for without them every process of 

reasoning would be interminable. A primary truth 

9 



10 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

may be known by the following signs : it can neither be 
proved nor refuted by clearer propositions ; and it forces 
men, whether they admit or deny it, to act as though 
they believe it. A philosopher, for example, may deny 
the existence of an external world, and may meet with 
no one who can refute him; nevertheless, he will be as 
careful to avoid fires, and rivers, and blows, as if he 
taught that flame will burn, and water drown, and that 
action and reaction are equal. 

A large basis of these truths is afforded to man by in- 
tuition, and upon it he erects the structure of natural 
science; but it is evident that, however high he may 
carry up the edifice, he can not broaden it. But the 
Bible enlarges the foundations of knowledge ; it lays a 
number of basis truths in the faith — such as the exist- 
ence of God, the beginning of the world, the origin of 
evil, the future life, the resurrection from the dead, the 
judgment to come, and the scheme of salvation through 
our Lord — and on this added and supernatural founda- 
tion man can build, as on Jacob's stony pillow, successive 
stories, like the rounds of the mystic ladder, and side by 
side with the ascending angels of God, rise higher and 
higher, till he bathes his head in the Divine glory. 

It may be alleged by some, that the propositions just 
stated are first truths of natural knowledge, and, there- 
fore, need no revelation from Heaven. Try them. Are 
men compelled to act as though they believe them? do 
they not generally act as though they disbelieved them? 
It is alleged by many that they may be built upon other 
truths; the being of God, for instance, upon the axiom 
that every effect must have an adequate cause. Perhaps 
some of them are discoverable by unassisted angelic 
minds; but are they by unaided human ones? What 
ancient philosopher ever reasoned himself up to any one 
of them? True, here and there a gray-haired sage, after 



THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 11 

the labor of a life, caught a glimpse of some; but it was 
a mere glimpse, beheld with doubt and fear, and leading 
to no useful result. Nor was this ignorance due to any 
want of interest in religious themes. What nation that 
ever emerged from barbarism did not speculate upon 
these points, and, by its absurd notions concerning them, 
demonstrate that the " world by wisdom knew not God V 

Let it not be said that their errors were owing to im- 
perfect mental cultivation. Philosophers, to whom, so 
far as intellect and polish are concerned, the world has 
looked up for ages, and still looks up, sought after this 
knowledge as after hid treasure, yet died without the 
sight. Simonides, on the fortieth day of his search after 
God, crkd, "The more I consider the subject the more 
obscure it becomes/ ' Greece confessed her ignorance 
when she erected an altar to the unknown God; and Soc- 
rates, her noblest son, marked the end of the longest 
march of unaided mind toward God by a sacrifice to Es- 
culapius. I know that reason may render the truths in 
question probable before they are revealed, and may illus- 
trate them afterward; but she can never advance them 
from the probable to the certain till she hears a voice 
from heaven. Skeptics who, with all the light of mod- 
ern science, reject the Bible are in darkness concerning 
even the being of God and the immortality of man. 

You perceive the discouragement which every mind 
must feel when there is no revelation — a discouragement 
which must increase with every succeeding age. Who 
would deny himself ease, and home, and pleasure, to en- 
ter upon a voyage which has always terminated in ice- 
bergs, and clouds, and shipwreck, and confused cries 
dying out into eternal silence ? Yet such has been the 
end of every voyage of human reason in search of the 
"golden fleece" of religious truth. No wonder; for it 
is an attempt to reach the infinite by the route of the 



12 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

finite. We see the encouragement which the Bible gives 
to study — it starts us on our journey far in advance of 
the most laborious researches of philosophy. The child, 
with the Bible in hand, begins his lessons far beyond 
where Socrates closed his. 

The Bible requires the exercise of reason in examining 
its evidences. If I am required to receive the Bible upon 
the ground of authority, custom, antiquity, or law, what 
distinction can I perceive between the true religion and 
the false ? Leave it to the priests of Pagan temples to 
challenge belief without proof; it is the distinguishing 
glory of the G-ospel that she brings her witnesses into 
reason's court, and demands the coolest, strictest scru- 
tiny. We blame not the infidel because he reasons, but 
because he either does not reason enough, or reasons from 
false premises. I know that many good men receive the 
Bible without examination, and become established in the 
faith by the fruits which it brings forth ; but if they had 
traced the analogies between natural religion and re- 
vealed, studied the dependencies and correspondencies 
of the old and new covenants, listened to the harmonies 
of both, and the answering echoes of the heart and con- 
science, and ended their investigation by comparing 
prophecy with history, till they saw the proof that Jesus 
is the Son of God, beaming round the earth upon the 
brows of three millions of the living children of those 
who led him to Calvary, and saw in the broken columns 
of Nineveh, and the scraped rock of Tyre, and the bar- 
ren hills of Syria, and the cursed valley of the Nile, the 
sad and silent demonstrations of the Divine origin of 
holy oracles, their faith would rest on broader founda- 
tions. Hence, the Bible says, prove all things. Prepare 
to satisfy your neighbor as well as yourself, by giving a 
reason of the hope that is in you. Study, argue, till you 
can give every leaf and every providence a voice for the 



THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 13 

Son of God, and make every Alpha and Omega of the 
New Testament speak of his divinity and his era, as the 
galleries of the stars mark the footsteps of the Deity, 
and the petrifactions of the rocks chronicle the days be- 
fore the flood. 

The Bible demands our reason, that we may develop its 
truth. Made up as it is of various books, written by dif- 
ferent authors, at sundry times, during the lapse of many 
centuries, each part bearing the stamp of its own times 
and the peculiar style of its own writer, it requires care- 
ful examination, and an application of those rules of ex- 
egesis which are used in the interpretation of other an- 
cient writings, in order that it may exhibit its meaning. 
And the meaning which the words express is what we 
want : he who looks for hidden senses looks for his own 
fancies ; he who allegorizes adds to the revelation. 

Let reason, however, approach the Bible as the prophet 
did the burning bush ; for it hath fallen — it stands on 
holy ground ; it can never find out God to perfection j it 
seeks things hidden from the wise and prudent to be 
revealed unto babes. Let it not merely approach, but 
tarry and deliberate ; for Christ saith, " Search the Scrip- 
tures. " Alas ! many, like they of Thessalonica, are men- 
tal beggars, because they will not — a few only, like the 
Bereans, are moral noblemen, because they do so daily. 
It is easy to read; but to understand we must think. The 
ox sees the sun merely as a ball of fire; the philosopher 
sees in it the attraction that binds the planets and the 
spectrum that spans the heavens, the heat that warms, 
and the light that cheers a set of worlds, and the power, 
and wisdom, and goodness of Him that hath set the king 
of day his tabernacle, and kindled up his fires. And 
what makes the difference but thinking? No one can 
understand a book unless his mind can pass with the 
author up the same steps of thought which he traveled 



14 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

when he penned it. He, for example, who would com- 
prehend Euclid's problems must think himself up to 
Euclid's elevation. And 0, what discipline must the 
mind undergo to receive truth from the pen of that phi- 
losopher ! How should we close our eyes, and bend our 
knees, and tax our energies when we pass through the 
chambers of the Scriptures, beyond the ranks of cheru- 
bim and seraphim, to place our ears to the mouth of 
God ! It is the glory of the Bible that it brings down 
philosophy through prophets, apostles, and the God-man, 
from the Almighty to the infant. It is its higher glory to 
lead up the infant by its philosophy through the armies 
of the blest to the bosom of the Almighty. Let us de- 
light in the pure truth. I have thought that uninspired 
books are at once a blessing and a curse to the Church. 
Let us not depreciate the fathers; they are, for the most 
part, redolent of piety, radiant with learning, and deep 
with argument; they often throw light over dark places 
of truth, and lift dim curtains that hide unspeakable glo- 
ries. But better never read human writing than trust in 
human authority, or share the glory of Christ with his 
frail servants. He who does so can not enjoy God's 
word. The soul that sails the ocean of truth in the 
pitcher of human teachings, feels not the baptism of its 
immortal waters. 

One of the great benefits derived from the word is its 
soul exercise. This it was which nourished up such 
minds as Luther, Knox, Wesley — those colossal intellects 
that stand among mankind like pyramids amid Egyptian 
sands. Religious controversy, though, on many accounts, 
to be deplored, has been a blessing to the Church, by 
driving her to search the Scriptures. Alas ! for want of 
it, in these peaceful times, Zion is in danger of getting 
bedridden. 

Let reason approach the Scriptures with patient prayer. 



THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 15 

The prophet on Cariners hights cast himself down upon 
the earth, and put his face between his knees. "And 
he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. 
And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. 
And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass 
at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a 
little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And it 
came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was 
black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain." 
So be thy spirit on the Divine hights of the Bible — bow 
down; and if, as you look toward the sea, you see noth- 
ing, pray on; and though you look seven times before 
you see a cloud, like a man's hand, say not that the 
Bible is a dry book, but be thou still a kneeling, and thy 
moral heaven shall be filled with fatness and her earth 
drenched with rain. 

The Bible demands our reason, that we may develop its 
nee. Tell me not that reason has done enough when 
she has given us the meaning of the Scriptures. Sci- 
ence is the final cause of reason, truth is the element of 
science, and nature and revelation are the reservoirs of 
truth. We remember, compare, classify, and judge as 
the sparks fly upward; intellect leaps spontaneous; and 
if the Bible is not an arena for it, it is neither suitable 
for man nor worthy of God. One of the strongest proofs 
of its heavenly origin is the fact, that, although it has 
been the sphere of mental activity for the best minds 
during the last two thousand years, it is still the scene 
of interest and the field of discovery. 

But what are objects of Bible science ? 

AVe should seek for the origin, combination, and his- 
tory of the words in which the Scriptures are cast, that 
we may not repeat them parrot-like, but, as the apostle 
directs us to sing, "in the spirit and with the under- 
standing also." 



16 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

We must bind the facts together by their leading prin- 
ciples. How can they be remembered unless they be ar- 
ranged ? how can they be arranged unless they be classi- 
fied? and how can we classify without analysis? and how 
can we analyze without reason? He who could remem- 
ber all the facts by mere force of memory would have but 
imperfect knowledge, compared with him who has traced 
them through successive generalizations to the great sun- 
truth of the cross, and who from the cross can connect 
and explain them all. 

But it is not only the historic truth we want ; we need 
also the doctrinal, which lies beneath it. Let it not be 
said that practical religion is all-sufficient : the practical 
rests upon the theoretical ; the action lies behind the 
will, the will behind the emotions, the emotions behind 
the intellect. As a man's views of God, so is his feeling 
toward him; as his feeling toward him, so will be his vo- 
lition; and as he wills, so he acts. Every sentence in 
the Bible bears a relation to God, or Christ, or man; and 
when this is perceived it awakens a feeling of obliga- 
tion — the only permanent foundation for morality. 

We should not only eliminate the doctrines of the Bi- 
ble, but trace their connection in a system; for the 
Bible, though it does not teach systematically, neverthe- 
less contains a system. In this respect there is an anal- 
ogy between nature and revelation ; both are regulated 
by connected general principles, which, while they seem 
to hide, they constantly illustrate, thus alluring us to 
scrutinize and compare. In this way we are led to con- 
nect facts and dispensations, and bring independent and 
apparently contradictory propositions into a coherent and 
harmonious whole. 

It may be said that this is not essential to salvation. 
I know it. It is with particulars, not with generals, that 
we arc chiefly concerned both in natural and spiritual 



THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 17 

life, and every one's capacities are adapted to his necessi- 
ties; but both in nature and the word of God we are in- 
vited, as well by duty as curiosity, to trace the particulars 
upward to the generals, and downward to the elements, 
in a never-ending series of beautiful analyses. Hence, 
the Psalmist made the law his meditation day and night. 
For want of this there is so much unsteadiness in the 
Churches. We have cast away the catechism, nor will 
we catechise ourselves. Be not afraid that speculation 
will lead to intolerance. He who reasons most is most 
tolerant ; for he knows with what difficulty truth is dis- 
covered and error avoided. It is usually, the ignorant 
that deems himself infallible 5 he who will not think for 
himself that persecutes him that does. 

Nor think that there is no hope of further discovery 
in the Bible. We have dogmas and tenets enough, but 
there is yet a chance to bring out great thoughts from 
the Divine treasury of knowledge. Indeed, a new era is 
opening upon us. The philosophy of Bacon, which has 
shed such floods of light upon the physical sciences, has 
but just been brought to the threshold of the theological. 

The Bible requires our reason, that we may judge of 
the excellence of its law and the rectitude of the Divine ad- 
ministration. I speak reverently but firmly, because I 
speak with the warrant of the inspired word. God in- 
vites us to reason; he honors his own image in man; 
he is pleased that his child should exercise his noblest 
powers upon the tvords as well as works of his Creator. 
How else shall man see that " the law is good V or ex- 
claim, as he traces the Divine dispensations, " Just and 
true are thy ways, thou King of saints V or cry, as he 
stands before the Shekinah, like the seraphim in pro- 
phetic vision, " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts I" 
Hence, God says to the sinner, "Come, let us reason to- 
gether." The obedience he demands is a rational one; 



18 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

no other would be consistent either with the creature's 
happiness or the Creator's glory : hence, he is willing to 
submit the matter in controversy between himself and 
his people to their own judgment: " Judge ye are not 
my ways equal : are not your ways unequal." 

But let us beware how we use our reason. To calcu- 
late without data, or to argue where the premises are im- 
perfectly understood — this is not to use reason, but to 
abuse it. So far as duty is concerned, we may expect 
full knowledge ; but there are things referred to in reve- 
lation the full comprehension of which " is reserved in 
heaven," and, for aught we know, is beyond the capacity 
of the human mind. To attempt to speculate on these 
were madness. Do not wonder that there are such points 
in the Bible, for there are similar ones in philosophy. 
Between cause and effect, impulse and motion, organiza- 
tion and life, there lies a region as mysterious as that 
which lies between the holiness of God and the origin 
of evil, or between the freedom of man and the sover- 
eignty of God. Mysteries peculiarly befit revelation. 
When Jehovah, from his mountain home, sends down a 
messenger, what wonder that there should be some spots 
upon his face too bright for mortal eye, and whose 
brightness must, therefore, be shaded. Happy are we 
that there are. They speak of the King eternal, im- 
mortal, invisible, and of his inaccessible dwelling of 
light; they speak of the immortality, and progress, and 
coming illumination of th& soul; they keep the mind 
forever on the knee and forever on the wing. More 
especially should we anticipate mystery when God reveals 
himself; we may expect to see the glory of the Almighty 
through a cleft in the rock. What would you think of a 
philosophy that should profess to bring the science of 
the sun within the little doors of an insect's soul ? 
What, then, of a revelation that should profess to bring 



THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 19 

the full glory of the eternal God within the narrow open- 
ing of a human intellect, or that should leave nothing 
unexplained between the surface and the depths of its 
discoveries ? What a death to all thought ! what a stop 
to all progress! Where eternity is concerned we may 
look for mystery. W T hat wonder if the distant hill-tops 
are covered with shadows that we can not pierce ! But 
shall we, therefore, complain ? W r ho blames the earth 
because it hides more than it reveals? Who blames the 
telescope because in bringing one star near it shows oth- 
ers afar off? Who blames the philospher because in 
leading his pupil up the hill of knowledge he widens, at 
every step, the visible horizon of his ignorance? Suffi- 
cient for us that we can follow a pillar of cloud as well as 
of fire, and that all over those distant hills of darkness 
there shall erelong break the beams of an eternal morn- 
ing. Let it not be said that the mysteries of Scripture 
paralyze the mind; they stir it from its foundations. It 
is when the curtains are drawn around the sky that the 
contemplative mind is filled with the utmost awe and 
reverence; and as the stars peer out one after another, 
and the heavens are crowded with shining worlds, imag- 
ination kindles and burns till the soul is all on fire. And 
why? Because there is mystery in every star, and 
mystery in every space; and the mystery deepens as you 
go from sun to sun, and system to system, till the soul is 
overwhelmed in the unfathomed depths. 

It is worthy of remark that the line which separates 
the mysterious from the comprehensible in the Scrip- 
tures is not a fixed one, but is continually receding be- 
fore the advances of the pious mind; and this brings me 
to remark that the Bible entices us to the use of our rea- 
son by the promise of supernatural aid. The Spirit of 
God reveals to us no new truth. We are assured that the 
Gospel is not only the latest, but the last will and testa- 



20 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

ment of our Father, and that a curse will alight upon 
him who adds a codicil to it. The overlooking of this 
fact has been the cause of Millerism, Mormonism, and 
the delusions of such visionaries as Jemima Wilkinson, 
Joanna Southcote, Beheniin, Vane, and Venner. They 
all adopted the false principle, that the Spirit gives a new 
law, instead of writing the old one in the believer's mind. 

The Spirit, in leading us into all truth, does not alter 
the human faculties. We need not, therefore, expect 
to have visions, and phantasies, and impressions, of 
which we can give no rational account, or to be deprived 
of strength, reason, and will, and cast motionless upon 
the ground, as the ancient sibyl in her silent prophetic 
illapses. The Spirit is not to make us prophets, but to 
acquaint us with the prophets. How the Spirit aids the 
mind in its researches, we can only say suggestively. 

It may prepare the heart to receive truth. It is some- 
thing, when we would solve a difficult problem, to have 
the slate wiped clean. Socrates said, he who would re- 
ceive the pure must not himself be impure. It may dis- 
pose us to the proper and strenuous use of our natural 
faculties in searching for the riches of the full assurance 
of understanding; it may remove the hinderances to 
faith. The heart influences the intellect : hence, it is 
difficult to feel " an argument against an interest/' or to 
see an evil in the things we love. 

The Spirit of God allays passion, removes prejudice, 
and breathes into the soul the disposition to obey. 
There is no argument to remove skepticism like the bend- 
ing knees. How did Solomon obtain wisdom? Now, 
"if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God." Would 
we receive truth, we must invite it, as Abraham did the 
angels. Would we have the Scriptures opened to us, we 
must walk with God, as the disciples did with Christ on 
the way to Emmaus. 



THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 21 

May not the Spirit aid the mind in apprehending truth 
Dy leading it up from the region of mere understanding, 
which is discursive, which judges by sense, to the region 
of reason, where all is fixed, reposing on the constitution 
of the human mind — : that region whence we obtain the 
axioms of the exact sciences, and such ideas as eternity, 
infinity, and power? Let the soul shake off the defiled 
garments of sense, bury its idols, and go up to the 
Bethel of pure reason, where the truths rise unbidden 
like stars in the sky, and doctrines before unseen may 
shine like the belt of Orion at midnight. 

May not the Spirit more directly influence the soul, as 
is implied in such a promise as this: "When he, the 
Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all 
truth I" Without the communication of any new truth, 
the Bible may be made a new book to us. It would re- 
quire but a little change in the eyeball of a man to 
enable him to see the sun an orb of fire, filling the hori- 
zon, or the moon full of flowery mountains and goodly 
forms, or the stars floating and filled worlds of light — no 
change need be wrought on the universe, no change in 
the humors and lenses of the eye, only a little alteration 
of its form. Now, who shall say that the Holy Spirit 
can not so influence the soul as, without changing its 
faculties, or altering the truth, it shall cause that soul to 
see its revelations magnified? Let the mind, then, 
touched by the divine Spirit, approach the borders of 
religious mystery, and wrestle with the angel that guards 
them, and wrestle on, even though it should seem that 
the thigh of the reason must be dislocated in the strug- 
gle ; and wrestle on, as if it had power with God, and it 
shall see day break; it may stand at Penuel; it may sec 
God; and as the sun rises, it may halt upon the very 
limb that seemed to be disjointed in the struggle. 

Now, in order that I appear not obscure or enthusias- 



22 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

tic, let me further explain. Long, and painful, and pray- 
erful contemplation, though it may discover no new 
truth, may embody and illuminate old and project long 
beams of light over what was before dark. 

The Bible gives ample scope to the ablest minds. It 
compels us to examine ourselves — a duty which few dis- 
charge. Where is the man who considers what he is? 
To almost every one his own soul is a foreign country. 
The world on which we look is the terrestrial, not the ce- 
lestial sphere — earth that is finite, not soul which is infi- 
nite. And wherefore ? Not because men do not know 
better; for Reason, unguided by revelation, wrote "know 
thyself" upon Apollo's Delphic temple, and ever since 
she hath boasted in the precept. Why, then, this 
neglect of it? Because its observance is difficult; and 
herein I find the proof that it develops and strengthens 
the mind. Indeed, every thing does which tasks its pow- 
ers. All the plans of education may be judged by this 
principle. Now, let a man begin and end his education 
in the school of his own soul ; he will have a vigorous 
intellect and a deep knowledge ; he will become a phi- 
losopher in spite of himself; he knows his powers — he 
learns how to apply them ; he observes his relations — he 
feels the obligations which spring out of them; he tra- 
ces his habits — he knows how to correct them; he gets 
thoughts, and must clothe them. 

But if this is all that is necessary to make strong in- 
tellect, may we not find it among the illiterate ? Yea, 
verily, you may often find amazing mental power and pro- 
found philosophy sheltered by the cabin roof. Many a 
pious Christian has a philosopher's head without a phi- 
losopher's library; many a poor widow, who has no 
books but the Bible and Baxter, is a metaphysician and 
a logician without knowing it, and will, so soon as 
she is released from the body, find herself a fit com- 



THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 23 

panion for such souls as Jonathan Edwards and John 
Wesley. 

Diogenes lighted his lamp at noon, and went out into 
the market-places in search of a man. Do not imitate 
the Cynic, or, like him, you might search in vain ; but 
take the lamp of God's word, and go into your own heart, 
and look through and through it, and you shall erelong 
find a man. 

The Bible introduces us into a spiritual world. Ever 
since the days of the inspired Hebrew, and the ancient 
Greek, men seem to have been turning their backs upon 
things unseen. Now and then a Milton has reversed his 
face till it has shone like that of Moses descending from 
Mt. Sinai. A small company still strive to look behind; 
but they can not long resist the general current of earth- 
ward though t a which has swept from creation all imagin- 
ary spiritual existences. Would you see above the stars, 
you must come to the Bible; there is left for you no 
other stream to convey you from material worlds, no other 
ferryman than faith. What though we outfly the eagle, 
outpush the whirlwind, outdig the earthquake, outsmite 
the lightning! we do but move mere matter. What is 
the spirit of the age, but an imprisoned Samson, working 
with terrific power, but eyeless sockets, in the mills ? 
Blessed be God ! the Bible is still, to some extent, felt, 
and here and there is a soul with eyes, looking into the 
tents of angels. 

The Bible introduces us to God — not the Pagan's pol- 
luted fancy, nor the philosopher's anima munch', but the 
one eternal, supreme, infinite Intelligence, who burns 
with consuming fire for the evil, and glows with eternal 
joys for the just; whose hand guides every star and 
opens every bud ; whose breath is alike in the roar of 
the mountain storm and the sigh of the quiet sea; who 
follows the wandering' prodigal and watches the infant's 



24 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

pillow, while lie marshals the ranks of angels and orders 
the worlds on high ; who hath revealed himself in Jesus 
and made an atonement for sin, thus bridging the gulf 
between himself and man. Here is the most glorious of 
all truths, the comprehension of all; a truth in which 
the mind may range forever, and still see before it fields 
of undiscovered glory; a truth sufficient to engage and 
energize a universe of minds forever. This truth is the 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever; but every revolving 
moment, every new object presents it in some new aspect, 
and unfolds its burning glory. Every new struggle of a 
redeemed militant soul, and every flutter of the pinions 
of a saved, triumphant, and ascending spirit in heaven's 
eternal sunlight, makes this great truth a more deep, 
more glorious, and more interesting mystery. Is there 
not power in it to raise the mind to the loftiest regions 
of thought, and hold it spell-bound there; to swell the 
heart into grand proportions, move it with supernatural 
might, and fit it either for the intensest sufferings or 
highest achievements of humanity ? Answer, ye Luthers 
in bondage ! ye martyrs in fire ! 

This great thought not only girds up the soul, but sug- 
gests the true path to science ; indeed, it gives to science 
a center, and binds all its departments together by indis- 
soluble bonds. 

Men knew but little of natural science where the Bible 
was not known, though they had the same faculties and 
scenes as we. No wonder; they had gods many and 
lords many. Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto divided the 
realms of nature among themselves; in the supernal 
courts there were plots and politicians ; and who could 
say what a day would bring forth in heaven, earth, or 
hell? Moreover, each realm had its subdivision, and 
each subdivision its local deity. The operations of na- 
ture were mysterious; none would venture to investi- 



THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 25 

gate thein with daring and hope; for he might be in- 
truding into the chambers of a jealous goddess; or if 
he found her secrets, he might derive no further advan- 
tage from them after he had crossed a stream or as- 
cended a mountain. How different the feelings of the 
Christian philosopher, who looks through nature to the 
one living and true God ! Nature, he cries, is one, for 
her God is one ; there must be harmony and simplicity 
in her laws. There sits Newton in his garden ; the apple 
falls before him, and his mind is led to think of the 
power which brought it down ; he thinks not of some 
wood-nymph, called into existence with the tree's opening 
blossoms, to take charge of its leaves and fruit, but of 
some law which the Maker of all things has ordained; 
he observes that gravity does not sensibly diminish at 
the tops of the highest trees, nor the roofs of the loftiest 
buildings, nor the summits of the highest mountains : 
why not, then, extend to the moon ? if so, does it not 
hold her in her orbit ? May it not hold other planets in 
their spheres ? may it not bo the solution of the great 
problem of the universe ? What gave Newton the bold- 
ness to bound upward from the tree to the mountain-top, 
from the mountain-top to the moon, from the moon to 
the farthest planet in space? what but the faith that he 
was traveling through the dominions of one Monarch 
over which one law was outstretched ? 

Again: the Christian says, "God is wise:" hence, 
even where all appears to be confusion, he can study for 
order, as the young statuary hovers over the Apollo for 
beauty — sure it is there. 

The Pagan had no assurance of the staVity of sci- 
ence; for his gods were fickle and subject to chance. 
The Christian, amid all changes, sees the same Intelli- 
gence presiding and carrying forward his purposes by in- 
variable laws. Whether the earth stands in the water or 



26 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

out of the water, whether the heavens shine tranquilly or 
pass away with a great noise, the Christian expects his 
possessions of truth, moral or natural, to be like God — 
eternal. 

The Bible, by the reflected light of the eternal world, 
gives sublimity to the most unimportant events of this. 

If the soul of man were to be blown out as a candle, 
or pass into other bodies like a viewless gas, why should 
we kindle the midnight taper, or point a tube to the 
heavens ? Plato, after speaking of Acheron and the isl- 
ands of the blessed, says, "For the sake of these things 
we should make every endeavor to acquire virtue and 
wisdom in this life." What, then, is the influence of 
that Gospel which brings life and immortality to light ? 
The Christian says, "I shall, like Jesus, rise from the 
grave ; I shall walk the heavenly plains. All these trials 
are working out for me a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory. I shall reap the advantage of this 
mental discipline and this moral cultivation, when I see 
light in God's light; when I take in knowledge with my 
understanding as I do now with my eye ; when I move as 
swiftly as I think" How little encouragement would 
the youth have to study, if he were sure that he would 
be laid in the grave before he graduated, and had no 
hope beyond it? It is the expectation of honors and 
usefulness in another and higher sphere in life that spurs 
him onward. So with the Christian; he looks into the 
heavenly city; he sees that one star differeth from an- 
other star in glory; he hears the harps of angels; his 
heart leaps responsive to their call. 

The Scripture, too, explicitly teaches the doctrine of 
human responsibility. Scripture assures us that each 
man shall, in the last day, give account of himself to 
God. All actions shall be brought to light ; all words, 
even the idle shall be charged, and every thing that has 



THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 27 

been done or uttered shall be traced to its proper motive. 
This great doctrine can not fail to be strengthening to 
the soul. Suppose we were placed in some mysterious 
spot, where every thought should be telegraphed upon a 
column in the court-house — how careful should we be to 
think true, and strong, and pure ! Suppose we stood be- 
fore a mirror which reflected all our actions to the eyes 
of the community — how careful should we be to do that 
which is "holy, just, and good !" Suppose we spoke in 
some whispering gallery, which repeated our words in 
every ear in the nation — how careful should we be to 
utter the words of truth and soberness only ! Under 
such a process, if the mind could bear it, would it not 
be girded up to its highest energies! Now, there is 
such a telegraph, docketing our words on the column of 
the court of the universe ; there is such a mirror, reflect- 
ing our acts to the eye of God ; there is a gallery, which 
repeats our words in his ear ; and every time the Chris- 
tian meditates upon it his mind is nerved and impelled 
heavenward. 

This doctrine gives interest and dignity to the most 
uninteresting scenes and unimportant actions of life; it 
invests every word with majesty, because it invests it 
with immortality. Suppose that, by putting forth your 
hand, you could start irito existence a steam-engine, 
whose marchings should be outward to the farthest verge 
of created things, and then round the zodiac of the uni- 
verse, and after performing one circuit it should com- 
mence another, and so on forever — how would your mind 
think and think to take the bearings of those eternal 
wheels, before you put forth the magic touch that should 
begin their endless and resistless revolutions ! Would 
you dare move a finger without the command of him who 
sees all things from everlasting to everlasting? Well, 
man's acts have this power and circuit, not in space, but 



28 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

in duration; not in consequence of the properties of his 
hand, but on account of the properties of the human souls 
on which he operates. If you cut a gash in a man's head 
you may heal it, but you can never rub out, nor wash out, 
nor cut out the scar. It may be a witness against you in 
his corpse ; still it may be covered by the coffin, or hidden 
in the grave; but then it is not till decomposition shall 
have taken place, that it shall entirely disappear. But 
if you smite a soul, the scar remains ; no coffin or grave 
shall hide it ; no revolution, not even the upturning of 
the physical universe, shall obliterate it; no fire, not 
even the eternal furnaces of hell, shall burn it out. This 
thought, while it awakens fear, arouses hope. Go learn 
astronomy; point your tube toward unknown depths of 
space; discover far off in ether a glorious planet; de- 
scribe its orbit; take its weight, and write your name 
upon its bosom. 0, what an achievement ! But I tell 
you what is worthier : a He that converteth a sinner 
from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death; 
and shall hide a multitude of sins." Go rescue that 
wanderer from the verge of perdition, and, under God, 
you may plant a soul in the far-off ether of glory, that 
shall sphere itself around the throne, and bear upon its 
breast, as it wheels its eternal courses, your name, to be 
read by the angels of light. 

Hence, it is no wonder that the Bible has intensely in- 
terested minds of the greatest compass and power — minds 
which mark the steps of moral progress from Moses down- 
ward. Men that have studied it night and day, with 
head uncovered and on bended knees, till they could re- 
cite any passage, together with its context, and the criti- 
cisms of the best commentators, have felt increasing in- 
terest and made new discoveries in its pages every day. 

Locke found the profoundest depths and Newton the 
sublimest hights in the book of God. Napoleon cried 



THE BIBLE FRIENDLY TO REASON. 29 

out, "The religion of Christ is a mystery which subsists 
by its own force." Luther exclaimed, "I am an old 
Doctor of Divinity, yet to this day I am not come out of 
the child's learning — the creed, the commandments, and 
the Lord's prayer." No wonder the greatest of modern 
philosophers — Lord Verulam — said, " Theology is the 
complement of the sciences, the Sabbath of the human 
intelligence, the divine day of repose and illumina- 
tion." 

We have argued from the tendencies of the Bible. 
We might reverse the line of argument with equal fa- 
cility, and show from the effects of the word of God its 
power to enlighten and enlarge the mind. Trace it 
either round the earth or over the pages of history, and 
you describe a line of light. Indeed, scarce a ray of 
knowledge can be found that did not issue, directly or in- 
directly, from the altars which the law or the Gospel has 
enkindled ? Why, then, you ask, has it not, by this time, 
filled the earth with rays ? Because the earth would not 
receive it. The dark ages were brought on by neglecting 
it. Even through that night the embers of the Bible 
glowed beneath the ashes of the altar; and ever since 
the days of the Reformation it has been illuminating the 
nation. Who pours light over the fields of philosophy? 
Who harnesses the lightning and yokes the steam ? 
Who pants for universal conquest? Who stands, like 
the apocalyptic angel, in the sun ? The Christian. And 
why, but because of his everlasting Gospel, which he 
holds for every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and 
people ? And now bear in mind that we have presented 
only one out of many of the blessings of the Gospel, and 
that but a comparatively inconsiderable one. The great 
secret of the Creator is simplicity of causes reconciled 
with multiplicity of effects. That sun which enlightens 
the planets preserves them from chaos, marshals them 



30 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

into order, and wheels them in harmony. The same Bi- 
ble that illuminates the world is its fountain of order, of 
peace, and of salvation. It is not only a sun that illumin- 
ates the earth, it is a ladder that reaches into heaven, 
and a choir of angels singing, "On earth peace, good 
will to men," and, " Glory to God in the highest I" 



RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 31 



RELIGION carries her own bliss with her. There are 
flowers enough in all her paths to attract and reward 
the traveler. Were there no world of light to which the 
heaven-born pilgrim tends, wisdom would still point with 
undeviating index to religion's ways of pleasantness — to 
religion's paths of peace. There are no hills like the 
hills of Zion; there are no songs like the songs of Israel; 
there are no joys like the joys of the redeemed. How 
great is the happiness of the Christian ! This is seen 
even in his trains of thought. "I meditate/' says 
the Psalmist, " on all thy works : I muse on the work of 
thy hands. " 

Religion attracts Tier votaries into the suhlimest walks 
of external nature. There can be no theology without 
philosophy. I do not mean to be understood that the 
Christian must have a library and a telescope, and an 
herbarium and a laboratory; that he must be confined to 
the study; that he must spend his days in experiments, 
and his nights amid books. There is an artificial philos- 
ophy and a natural philosophy. The one traces the laws 
by which the world is governed, the other surveys the 
world itself; the former busies itself with explanations, 
the other with facts; one is intellectual drudgery, 
the other mental pleasure. The mere philosopher con- 
cerns himself with the former, the mere Christian may 
enjoy the latter. The courtier in Shakspeare asks the 
shepherd: "Have you studied natural philosophy ?" 



32 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

"0 yes/' says the shepherd, "my philosophy is all nat- 
ural. I know it is the property of water to wet, and 
of fire to burn — that good pasture makes fat sheep — that 
he that lacks money, means, and content, lacks three 
good things." This affords an amusing illustration of 
the foregoing remark. Have you never reflected, gentle 
reader, how slight is the difference between the peasant 
and the sage; that the great field of important facts lies 
open to both; that the one contents himself with isolated 
truths, the other generalizes ? 

Having premised thus much, we return to our proposi- 
tion, that there can be no true theology without philoso- 
phy, and proceed to observe, that God is the Alpha and 
Omega of all theology. His attributes are natural and 
moral. Power and wisdom are the chief of the former; 
justice and mercy the foundations of the latter. Can 
almighty power and wisdom be learned as a lesson in the 
spelling-book? To be understood they must be illus- 
trated. It need scarcely be said that words are arbitrary 
sounds — that they must be associated with the ideas they 
are intended to convey, or they are destitute of meaning. 
Does a father wish to teach his son the meaning of hu- 
man power? He takes him where he may witness its 
operations; perchance he takes him to the blacksmith- 
shop, and while he shows him the arm of the artisan 
raising the ponderous hammer, and bringing it u down 
upon the anvil, and by repeated strokes causing the 
shapeless iron to assume the form which he designs — he 
says that is human power. Or he points him to the 
majestic city, pointing a thousand spires to the sun, and 
says, "Mark these streets, these walls, these cathedrals, 
these towers — they are the results of human power." 
Does he wish to teach him human wisdom ? He may 
point to the philosopher calculating the eclipses and sta- 
tions of the heavenly bodies for far distant years, and to 



RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 33 

the accuracy of a moment, and say, this is human wis- 
dom. Or perhaps he takes him to observe the steamer, 
with her proud pennon floating in the breeze, freighted 
with the merchandise of a city and the population of a 
territory ; yet buffeting the winds and surmounting the 
billows, and progressing to its destined port with un- 
erring prow ! and explaining to him the machinery 
by which the results are accomplished, he says, this is 
human wisdom. Thus would a father teach his son 
God's power. Let him take him out in the freshness 
of the morning, and open his eye upon the sun issuing 
from the chambers of the east to spread light upon the 
mountains; or let him lead him to the contemplation 
of the midnight heavens, and show him the Most High 
walking among the stars as a shepherd among his flocks. 
"Would you learn what is meant by Divine wisdom? Go 
view the ordinances of heaven, or look into your own 
wonderfully and fearfully made frame. Would you learn 
lessons of Divine goodness ? Go to the green of earth, or 
the freshness of ocean; to the beauties of spring, the 
glories of summer, the fruits of autumn, the fetters of 
winter; to the gentle dew that distills upon the tender 
grass; to the refreshing showers, and revolving seasons, 
filling the earth with joy and gladness. Would you know 
God's providential care ? " Consider the lilies of the 
field, how they grow : they toil not, neither do they spin, 
yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one 
of these." " Behold the fowls of the air ; they sow not, 
neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your 
heavenly Father feedeth them." 

Nature can not lead us to God without revelation. 
The condition of the heathen world teaches this. Yet 
revelation does not attempt to lead us to God, but 
through the medium of nature. She points to the works 
of God at her very portals. She opens the way for her 



34 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

glorious truths through the heavens and the earth. 
Her first page describes the creation. She shows us 
light issuing from the Creator's fiat — the firmament 
stretching itself out in the midst of the waters — the 
seas gathering together to their appointed places, and 
the dry land rising — the earth bringing forth grass, 
the herb yielding seed, the tree shedding fruit — the 
lights taking their appointed stations in the firma- 
ment — the fruitful waters bringing forth abundantly — 
the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may 
fly in air. Then she presents the earth bringing forth 
living creatures, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts 
of the earth. Finally she shows man coming forth 
from the hand of God — in his image, after his like- 
ness, invested with dominion over the fish of the sea 
and the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over 
all the earth. The work is finished, the universal ap- 
probation pronounced, and the general blessing sent 
down; the morning stars sing together, and the sons 
of God, in their heart's fullness, shout for joy over the 
new creation. 

By referring to this grand and beautiful universe, she 
impresses us with a sense of the majesty and glory of 
Him whose words she is about to utter. Thus does 
she prepare us to listen with awe and reverence. She 
does not pretend to teach us philosophy; but in teaching 
us religion, she leads us through all its paths. Can 
any one read this chapter without taking a jaunt into the 
fields of astronomy, geology, natural history, chemistry, 
and botany? 

Nor is it only at the commencement that revelation 
calls us to the contemplation of the works of God; but 
as she progresses in disclosing her heavenly lessons, the 
"range of the mountain is her path, and she searches 
after every green thing" for illustrations. She leads us 



RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 35 

through the vegetable world, from the cedar of Lebanon 
to the hyssop that springs by the wall ; from the ant that 
provides her meat in the summer, to behemoth the chief 
of the ways of God, trusting to draw up Jordan into his 
mouth; pointing as she passes to the wild goats of the 
rock, the wild ass of the mountains, the unicorn with his 
strength, the war-horse whose neck is clothed with thun- 
der, the peacock with his goodly wings, the ostrich with 
his feathers, the hawk stretching her wings to the south, 
the eagle making her nest on high. 

The prophets are generally poets of the highest order. 
As the profoundest philosophy of ancient Rome and 
Greece lighted her taper at Israel's altar, so the sweetest 
strains of the pagan muse were swept from harps attuned 
on Zion's hill. Mark how the prophet's soul pushes its 
way through the most majestic scenes, gathering meta- 
phors of the sublimest cast as she passes: "Who hath 
measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and 
meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the 
dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mount- 
ains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Behold the 
nations are as a drop of a bucket, and counted as the 
small dust of the balance : behold, he taketh up the isles 
as a very little thing."' "It is He that sitteth upon the 
circles of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as 
grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a cur- 
tain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in/' 

The religious meditations of the patriarchs and apos- 
tles were associated with the scenes of nature. Abraham 
called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God, 
amid his flocks and herds, in the plains or on the mount- 
ains, or in groves which he had planted. Isaac was in the 
habit of walking forth at eventide, to meditate in the 
field ; and Jacob learned to worship leaning upon the top 
of his staff. 



36 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Religion conducts us not merely into the field of external^ 
out into the depths of internal nature. The world has 
been endeavoring by its own observations and reflections 
to learn the human soul. But though capable of pene • 
trating into every thing else, the intellect is incapable 
of searching out itself. No system of metaphysics has 
been devised which men can agree to call truth. Yet 
there are metaphysicians — profound ones too — and they 
are to be found among those who have never read a sys- 
tematic work on mental philosophy. They have learned 
the laws of the human spirit from the teachings of its 
Maker ; they have studied the Bible, and it has led them 
through all the chambers of the soul. True, there is no 
system of metaphysics in the Bible — God makes no sys- 
tems. He made the Bible as he made nature. He 
threw truths, mental, moral, and natural, irregularly in 
the Bible, as he scattered trees and shrubs and flowers 
over the face of nature. Here in the Bible is metaphys- 
ics, and it may be systematized. Let a man sit down 
and take for granted all that the Bible asserts or assumes 
in relation to the human mind and heart, and he will 
have a perfect and unexceptionable system of meta- 
physics. Hence it is that the apostle James compares 
the Bible to a mirror. As we turn over its pages it is 
perpetually presenting new phases of human character, 
ever true to nature, ever true to experience. No sinner 
can sit down before the wonderful little instrument with- 
out perceiving his own likeness in all its native deformity. 
He will be able to trace his alienation from God, his 
native proneness to sin, his defilement, the perverseness 
of his affections, the turpitude of his nature. It is for 
this reason that the sinner turns away in disgust from 
the most sublime productions ever afforded to mortals ; 
and will plunge into the most profound abyss of science, 
and wander in the most intricate mazes of speculation , 



RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 37 

or amuse himself with the low ribaldry of infidelity, or 
shiver in the icy regions of atheism, rather than gaze 
upon the gorgeous drapery of Isaiah, or the beauteous 
moral scenes drawn by the Savior's pencil. It is for this 
reason that the minister, deriving his discourse from 
the Bible, is accused of personality even by the stranger. 
Hence also it happens that he that is spiritual judgeth 
all things. The divine mirror shows him his own soul, 
yea, the soul of every rational man, its propensions, laws, 
hopes, and fears; its motives, temptations, and corrup- 
tions; and he stands judge of the rational world. Is 
metaphysics an elevated science ? Is the soul a sublime 
subject of meditation ? Surely the Christian's contem- 
plations are of the highest order. 

Rational devotion leads to true philosophy, as true 
philosophy generally leads to rational devotion. The 
caves and mountains and plains of Judea inflamed the 
devotion of the Psalmist. At times, that he may kindle 
his soul with holy flame, he goes forth to the isles and 
the ends of the earth ; he walks forth at morning to be- 
hold the sun as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, 
and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race; he goes 
abroad to survey the heavens, which declare God's glory, 
and the firmament, which showeth his handiwork. He 
marches forth from his midnight couch to consider the 
glittering hosts of heaven — the moon and stars, which 
God has ordained ; and as he advances through the beau- 
tiful and the sublime, sweeter, stronger, deeper are the 
notes which issue from his harp. The devotional soul 
soars away from mortal habitations to the temple of her 
God — pluming her wings, she dwells in scenes such as 
might imparadise an angel. She finds a fane in every 
grove, and a lyre in every leaf; every voice in nature is 
an organ to her ear; every star in heaven touches a new 
chord in her heart ; and every gale that sweeps by her, 



38 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

wafts fresh praises from her lips. She meets no breath 
that doth not soften, no scene that doth not enliven, no 
flower that doth not beautify, no sound that doth not 
solemnize. The whole universe is a temple fitted by 
Jehovah's hand to inspire devotion; and every-where she 
finds herself between the wings of the cherubim : 
ascending from world to world with glowing raptures, 
she carols in the embraces of her Father and her God. 
'Tis thus the angel does : plunging through the regions 
of space on voyages of discovery, he flings his tuneful lyre 
on the breeze, and as new scenes pass before his vision, 
ever fresh, ever glorious, ever lovely, he perpetuates 
and multiplies his raptures, and returns to the skies with 
the swelling song, always one, and always fresh, yet bet- 
ter and better understood, " Great and marvelous are thy 
works, Lord God Almighty." 

Let Moses stand before the burning bush — burning, 
yet unconsumed; or let him view the Almighty from the 
cleft in the rock ; why need we complain, who may see 
God's goodness and power and love in the visible uni- 
verse. No limited demonstrations of the Divinity, how- 
ever glorious, can equal the world's on high. let me 
learn God in an unlimited universe, that my ideas of my 
Maker may admit of unlimited expansion, and my devo- 
tion of unbounded swell ! 

Religion , by delightful associations , hightens the pleasure 
arising from the contemplation of nature. The rose and 
the lily have new beauties for him who thinks of the 
Rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. Even the 
desert gushes with fountains, and the wilderness blossoms 
for him who meditates of the holy One of Israel, before 
whose footsteps earth shall be transformed. The sun in 
heaven suggests the Sun of righteousness, who rises on 
the soul with healing in his wings; and every star in the 
galaxy beams with added luster upon the eye that views 



RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 39. 

the Star of Bethlehem. Winds, ye are gales that waft 
to heaven, when ye suggest that Spirit which comes we 
know not whence, and goes we know not whither, and 
breathing, blesses. Cities, villages, rocks and mount- 
ains, hills and plains, lands and seas, earth and skies, ye 
all come crowded with pleasing recollections, for Jesus 
once animated such with his divine presence. Religion 
fills the universe with glorious suggestions, and descend- 
ing from above, hallows the earth we tread, and spreads 
our meanest blessings with holy associations. How fresh 
is this atmosphere — how beautiful this earth — how glori- 
ous these heavens! Thus cries the mere philosopher. 
Yes, adds the Christian, and these are my Father's. 
The child of God can look up and see the Almighty's 
hand wheeling the planets in order and harmony, and 
can be cheered by the reflection that it is the hand of 
One who loves him. How much sweeter the perfume 
of the gales, and the fruits of autumn, and all the 
blessings of earth, and the unnumbered attractions that 
make "all nature beauty to the eye, and music to the 
ear," when we can regard every blessing as sent from our 
heavenly Father in token of his love ! 

Religion tveaves the contemplation of nature with many 
salutary lessons, which are usually lost to the mere philos- 
opher. Nature teaches by her magnitude the humbling 
lesson of man's insignificance. It was when the Psalmist 
considered the heavens that he cried out, " Lord, what is 
man, that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, 
that thou makest account of him ?" How healthful to 
the soul such humiliating meditations; how do they 
eradicate pride and ambition, those roots of bitterness, 
which, springing up, deform and defile that garden 
which might else be a paradise. How effectually do 
they cast down every vain imagination, and every thing 
that opposeth or exalteth itself against the knowl- 



40 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

edge of God, bringing our thoughts into captivity to 
Christ. 

Nature enforces the lesson, "Lay not up treasures upon 
earth/' Every thing upon her bosom is subject to muta- 
tions. The law of change is written every-where. We 
see it not merely in the passing cloud, the revolving sun, 
the rolling seasons — it is written in every leaf in na- 
ture — it is graven with an iron pen on all her tablets 
of lead — it is inscribed in the rock forever. Thus relig- 
ion would impress us with the truth, that the fashion 
of this world passeth away* — that here we have " no 
abiding place," "no continuing city" — a lesson which 
strikes a death-blow to those ten thousand cares and 
anxieties that often prey upon the heart, and make ex- 
istence a burden. 

Religion teaches us to learn from nature, by analogy, 
our own frailty. As she leads us through the green, she 
reminds us that "all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man 
as the flower of the field." As the grass withereth, and 
the flower fadeth, thus perisheth mortality, and all the 
comeliness thereof. At the same time she teaches by 
contrast the durability of that world which abideth for- 
ever. The Christian can contemplate his own frailty with- 
out any anguish, " For we know that if our earthly house 
of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building 
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens." To him indeed the frailty of humanity is a 
pleasing theme — 



"For he would not live always, away from his God, 
Away from yon heaven, that blissful abode." 






" For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being bur- 
dened ; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed 
upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." 
The transitory nature of things seen increases our attach- 
ment to the eternal things unseen. The Christian can 



RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 41 

mark the earth crumble beneath his footsteps without 
sorrow, when it leads his thoughts to the inheritance 
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, re- 
served in heaven. 

Religion leads beyond philosophy. The Christian rises 
side by side with the philosopher into the starry heavens. 
They tread, foot to foot, the zodiac around. Together 
their souls expand, and burn, and wonder, and adore. 
And here the Christian bows to his learned companion, 
and leaves him in the milky way, and on his wings 
of faith ascends the upper skies, enters the paradise of 
God, soars through fields of light, and surveys the man- 
sions of the blest. He wears the crown of life, and 
waves the palm of immortality. He mingles with the 
blood-washed throng, and repeats their halleluiahs. He 
bows at the altars where saints perfected worship, and 
enters the chapels where rejoicing angels sing. He 
soars to the heaven of heavens, sees God the Father, 
Jesus his Son, and God the Holy Spirit; and lifting his 
eye upward he cries, "This is thy throne, dear Father — 
these are my native skies. " At length, however, sense 
incumbers the wings of faith, and he gravitates to earth 
again; but like the deputation which Israel, when en- 
camped upon the banks of Jordan, sent across the river 
to explore the promised land, he bears back a cluster 
from the vine-hills of the celestial Canaan, and as he 
feeds upon the delicious fruit he sings, 

" In such a frame as this, 

My willing soul would stay ; 
And sit and sing herself away, 
To everlasting bliss." 

In such a frame as this the apostle wrote, "We are confi- 
dent, I say, and willing rather to be with Christ, which is 
far better." 

What prisoned eagle would not wish his cage to burst, 

4 



42 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

that lie might mount to the morning sun and make his 
nest on high ? Wonder not that the Christian, when his 
eye of faith catches a glimpse of heaven, should wish 
the coil of mortality in which his spirit is impris- 
oned to unravel, and let the prisoner free. Well may 
he pray, 

"0 would he more of heaven bestow 
And let the vessel break; 
And let our ransomed spirits go, 
To grasp the God we seek." 

But let us leave the Christian's intellect, and pass to his 
heart. We have seen what are his meditations, let us see 
what are his feelings. 

Religion opens a world of grace, adorned with brighter 
scenes than nature knows. Here she teaches divine love 
and mercy and justice, God's moral attributes. Here she 
shows how God can be just, and the justifier of him that 
believeth in Jesus — a lesson which angels desire to learn. 
Amid the brightest scenes of nature the soul may be in 
hell. The angel, whose happiness is the award of inno- 
cence, may find a paradise in nature; but not so rebel 
man. Let him reflect, as he must at times, upon the 
purity of God's law, his personal liability, his bold and 
repeated transgressions, the justice of the penalty, and 
for him at least the sun and moon shall be darkened, 
and the stars shall withdraw their shining. Methinks I 
see the sinner, humbled by some solemn providence, and 
led to reflect on his ways, entering the closet with his 
Bible. He opens and reads with prayer — his sins rise 
before him — clouds encompass him, "and a day of dark- 
ness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick 
darkness" comes upon his soul. The earth quakes as 
if willing to shake the rebel from her bosom — the pillars 
of heaven totter as if impatient to crush him — "a spirit 
passes before his face — the hair of his flesh stands up. 



RELIGIOUS MEDITATION. 43 

Fear comes upon him, and trembling, such as to make all 
his bones to shake. Hell is naked beneath him, and de- 
struction is uncovered : a fire consumes before him, and 
behind him a flame burnetii!" What shall he do? Is 
God just, or merciful? Will he punish, or may he for- 
give? Thrilling questions! where shall he find the an- 
swer? The earth says, "It is not in me;" the deep 
cries, "It is not with me." The Star of Bethlehem 
rises on his midnight. He cries, blessed Jesus ! He 
faints, he falls, but falls in mercy's arms. 

This is a world of sorrow. The wounds and bruises 
and putrefying sores— the groans, and shrieks, and death 
of the body, are enough to make a God incarnate weep. 
Alas ! these are nothing to the sorrows of the heart. 
The spirit of a man may sustain his infirmity, but a 
wounded spirit who can bear ? Doth not anguish at 
times cleave to thee? Doth it not follow thee to the 
table, and from the table to the bed, and cause thee to 
inquire, 

"Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased? 
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow — 
Raze out the written troubles of the brain, 
And with some sweet oblivious antidote, 
Cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous suff 
That weighs upon the heart?'' 

How mighty are the passions of the soul — how strong 
its hate ! When once it penetrates an object, its hold is 
unshaken. The principle that binds the planets lets go 
its grasp in the wreck of dissolving nature; but mortal 
hate rises victorious over the dissolution of all things. 
Survey its love. The shock of battle, the loss of all 
things, the flames of the martyr's stake, death itself, 
which destroys every thing physical, can not shake it, 
for it "is stronger than death." Behold its ambition. 
Earth is lost in it, as a drop in the ocean — the universe 
can not fill it. Measure now the depth of its deathless 



44 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



passions, and then tell the depth of its capacity to suffer. 
My God ! thou only canst tell what this little human 
heart can suffer. for some fountain to cool its pas- 
sions ! for some balm to heal its wounds ! for some 
anodyne to moderate its pulsations! Religion leads t© a 
fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuers veins — 
points to the dying Savior, and cries, 

" Here bring your wounded heart, 
Here tell your anguish — 
Earth has no sorrow 
That heaven can not cure." 



THE SUBLIMITY OF THE BIBLE. 45 



SUBLIME, etyniologically, means high; applied to the 
arts, that which transcends nature; to the soul, a cer- 
tain emotion, an expansion, elevation, agitation — better 
felt than described; and to composition, those ideas which 
awaken this emotion. That the Bible abounds in such 
ideas it is easy to show. 

1. Its first line carries us back to the beginning. 
Should you see a mountain calmly rise by volcanic force 
from the bosom of the sea, would not your soul, as you 
watched it lifting its head for the first time to the clouds, 
be conscious of sublime emotions? and would not such 
emotions be revived as often as memory recalled the 
scene? Go back, with the Bible, to the beginning, when 
there was no earth nor sea, no sun nor star; not even a 
thin cloud, nor glimmering lightning, nor breath of air, 
nor gravitation, nor impulse, and watch till this teeming, 
glowing universe rises before you, and you shall feel the 
emotion of the sublime. 

2. Creation is another sublime idea of the book of God. 
Ancient philosophers could not attain to it; they thought 
matter to be eternal, and God to be a mere architect, who 
constructed the universe from pre-existing materials. 
When you see a noble edifice rising rapidly under the 
labors of workmen, who are supplied with materials, you 
are conscious of a sublime emotion ; but could you see a 
temple rise instantly, without materials and without 
hands, how much more would the soul be moved ! Think 



46 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

then of that voice which* spoke in the infinite void, and 
at whose utterance up rose the earth and heavens amid 
the shout of the sons of God ! 

3. It gives the idea of the end as well as the begin- 
ning. I know not which is the more sublime. "Who can 
think seriously of his own end, even though he reflect 
upon death as the avenue to higher life, without being 
deeply moved ? The idea of parting with the world and 
all its struggles and prospects, with earth and skies, with 
sun and moon, with wife and children; of hovering on 
the verge of an unknown state of being; of hailing the 
disembodied spirits, angels and heaven, God and Christ, 
is capable of awakening in any susceptible mind the 
mightiest movement. It was this idea that pressed from 
the soul of Mozart the sublimest strain perhaps that 
mortals ever heard, who have not heard the heavenly 
halleluiahs. He thought he was composing his own re- 
quiem. There he sat, the idea of death upon him, com- 
bining the solemn sounds that were wafted to him from 
the enchanted land of song, till the overpowering emotion 
crushed his body and liberated his soul. But what is the 
death of a single man to the burial of this earth and 
these heavens? Think of it! To stand on the globe 
when the last trumpet is blown; when the cities are 
emptied, and the shores are dumb; when the waters are 
pulseless, and the plains are cold; when the sun wipes 
the death damps from the face of the world, and the 
dying agonies of the universe begin! The conception 
has produced one of the finest lays of the English lan- 
guage — "Campbell's Last Man." 

Another of the Bible's sublime ideas is immortality. 
Multiply the sands of the shore by the dews of the morn- 
ing, and you would have a number which could hardly be 
enunciated in an age by the united labors of all the 
tongues of earth. Let that number stand for years, and 



THE SUBLIMITY OF THE BIBLE. 47 

it were as nothing to eternity. Yet this interminable 
duration is the inheritance of the soul; and through it 
that soul shall preserve its personality, its capacities, its 
susceptibilities, and may ascend the steeps of light with 
uninterrupted and accelerated progress, with wider un- 
derstanding, deeper emotions, finer sensibilities, nobler 
principles, higher duties, riper fellowship, and through 
more elevated ranks of the angelic hosts, and grander 
demonstrations of infinite power. He who can not see 
the sublimity of this thought, can not have meditated 
upon it. Let his soul struggle day and night with that 
serpent thought annihilation, till it would seem that it 
must be strangled by its folds; then let him lift up the 
swelled eyeballs of his suffocating spirit to see the seraph 
Immortality descend from her native hills to his rescue, 
and he shall know how the soul can swell at the mention 
of the word. Deprive a people of the idea of immortal- 
ity, and you check their noblest aspirations and impulses, 
you blight their affections, you strengthen their vices, 
you weaken their virtues, and sweep away the foundation 
of statuary, painting, eloquence, and song. Grecian 
genius attained its hight when the great Athenian martyr 
reasoned his soul into a belief of a pure and invisible 
world; and the glory of Rome culminated when her great 
orator cried out, u preclarum diem cum ad Mud divi- 
num animorum concilium, csetumque proficiscarj cumque ex 
hac turha et colluvionc discedam" — "0 glorious day, when 
I shall withdraw from this crowd and dust, and go to join 
that general assembly of glorified spirits !" The idea of 
immortality may be found in other books than the Bible; 
but no where else is it presented steadily, distinctly, cer- 
tainly, authoritatively. In connection with this doctrine, 
the Bible presents us with the sublime idea of a resur- 
rection — an idea foreign from the suggestions and even 
the dreams of philosophy, but not contradicted by either 



48 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

reason or analogy. Distinctly is it announced by Him 
who said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that 
believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." 
The Bible not only announces the doctrine, but illustrates 
it. We see an illustration of it beneath that cloud of 
the excellent glory which overshadowed the mount of 
transfiguration, when Moses and Elias from the courts of 
heaven conversed with the incarnate God and his flesh 
and blood disciples, till the face of Immanuel did shine 
as the sun, and his very raiment was white as the light. 
We have another illustration at the period of the cruci- 
fixion, when many of the saints which slept came forth 
from their opened tombs in the rocks, and walked the 
streets of the holy city. But the brightest and most 
perfect illustration is afforded by the Son of man, when 
he comes forth from the sepulcher with his body, and 
bears it, with all its wounds and scars, up the heavens to 
the throne of God. The idea must strike every one as 
sublime, but its full power can not be felt under ordinary 
circumstances. It may be your privilege, gentle reader, 
to love intensely some beautiful fellow-being, and to enjoy 
his fellowship with increasing affection, till he becomes 
the idol of your heart, the angel of your pathway, the 
sunshine of your home. It may be your calamity to have 
the ties which bind you to him suddenly broken : then, 
as you follow his coffin to the grave, and feel that the 
earth is robbed of its brightness, and that you are the 
lone pilgrim of the desert, you will be able to compre- 
hend the sublimity of these words, piercing your ear as 
from the lips of God, "I am the resurrection and the 
life." I have hailed that glorious sun at his rising, and 
stood entranced in his setting beams; I have looked up 
to heaven at midnight, and mused on the moon and stars 
when none but God was with me; I have sat silent and 
solitary in my closet, and thought over, one by one, my 



THE SUBLIMITY OF THE BIBLE. 49 

Savior's miracles; I have- pictured to my mind the Al- 
mighty molding the earth of the fresh creation into a 
human form, and breathing the breath of life into the 
nostrils of Adam; but never has my heart been so agita- 
ted as when I have thought of Jehovah coming forth ; at 
the blast of the last trumpet, to summon together the 
scattered dust of the corpse, and mold it into a body 
spiritual, incorruptible, immortal, radiant as the sun, and 
fashioned after the glorious body of the God-man. Of 
all miracles the miracle of the resurrection is the most 
sublime. No wonder that it has inspired some of the 
noblest strains of song and the greatest triumphs of art. 
The Bible gives us the notion of angels. It often 
recalls to us these glorious beings. An angel stands by a 
fountain of water in the wilderness to speak a beautiful 
promise to a wandering and broken-hearted mother. 
Angels converse with Abraham in his tent door; and 
smite a crowd with blindness to protect a good man in a 
guilty city. They crowd a mountain to guard one prophet, 
and drive a chariot up the skies to bear another home. 
They walk the burning furnace on Dura's plain to protect 
the martyrs from the power of fire. An angel breathes 
on an Assyrian camp, and spreads the earth with corpses 
of the ungodly host. ' Nor are these messengers confined 
to former dispensations. One of them announces to the 
shepherds Messiah's birth, and presently a multitude of 
the heavenly hosts throng the plain around him, and fill 
the midnight air with the ravishing music of their song. 
Angels minister to the Mediator after his temptation; 
they strengthen him in his prayer of agony and blood, 
roll away the stone from the mouth of his tomb, and 
spread before the eyes of his disciples the vision of his 
glory. They are with his apostles after his ascension; 
for them they bear down messages from heaven, and bear 
up praise from earth; they are with them in prisons and 

5 



50 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

in shipwreck. That wonderful vision of the Apocalypse, 
which closes the sacred canon, is as full of angels as the 
arch of heaven is full of stars. They blow the trumpets; 
they open the seals; they pour out the vials of wrath 
upon earth and sea, rivers and fountains, sun and air. 
Indeed, revelation's history begins and ends with the 
ministry of cherubim and seraphim. After the expul- 
sion of man they guard the gates of Paradise, and at the 
final judgment they sever the wicked from the just. 
That this adds to the sublimity of the Bible who doubts? 
The mythology of Greece and Rome, which peopled the 
stars and the elements with divinities, and even turned 
natural phenomena into mysterious existences, inspired 
the genius of those nations, and gave vast range and 
power to their chisels, their pencils, and their songs. 
Though nature herself is grand, her mountains, her 
storms, her. clouds become far more inspiring when re- 
garded as animated with the ghosts of the dead, and 
gleaming with the shields of the gods. The immortal 
works of the past owe their sublimity chiefly to the stim- 
ulating influence of the conception of the supernatural 
upon human imagination. Job well describes this effect : 
"In thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep 
falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which 
made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before 
my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still, 
but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was 
before mine eyes, there was silence. " Think how you 
would feel if your slumbers were broken by unearthly 
sounds, or your vision greeted with such midnight appa- 
ritions as that which struck the prophet to the earth on 
the banks of the Ulai ! You would feel those spirit- 
stirring surges of the soul whose echoes are eternal. 
With what sublimity does Christ invest the infant, when 
he paints an angel at its cradle to watch its slumbers, 



THE SUBLIMITY OP THE BIBLE. 51 

hear it3 prayers, and represent its little joys, and griefs, 
and dangers in the courts of the Eternal ! Inspiring 
was ancient mythology; but what was it to the Bible! 
Its most glorious gods were encompassed with the infirmi- 
ties of humanity, discordant in sentiment, conflicting in 
interest, disunited in aims, limited in range, imperfect in 
wisdom and power, without kindly sympathies for man, 
and defamed and degraded with vices and crimes too 
shameful to name. The angels of God are clothed with 
majesty: one flies through the midst of heaven; another 
stands in the sun; another enlightens the earth with his 
glory; another comes down from heaven, clothed with a 
cloud, and a rainbow is upon his head, and his face is as 
it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. John saw 
in vision angels standing at the four corners of the earth, 
holding the four winds of heaven. Ezekiel beheld cheru- 
bim, the sound of whose wings was as the voice of the 
Almighty when he speaketh. They are ho7i/, they dwell 
in heaven, commune with God, share his spirituality and 
purity, are instruments of his providence, and heralds of 
his love; and though they are ten thousand thousand and 
thousands of thousands, they all move in obedience to 
his will. They sympathize with man, they are ministers 
to the heirs of salvation, they have fellowship with 
saints, and are responsive to the invocations of sacred 
lyrics: u Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in 
strength V " Bless ye the Lord from the heavens, praise 
him in the hights : praise ye him all his angels, praise ye 
him all his hosts I' 1 

Our philosophy tends strongly to sensualism; and per- 
haps this is the chief reason why our canvas so rarely 
entrances, and why no glorious epic rolls its majestic 
pentameters through our groves. The Church has caught 
the prevailing spirit. Under pretense of purifying relig- 
ion from its abuses, she has nearly banished angels as 



52 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

well as saints from both her conceptions and her songs 
Let her not suppose that in doing so she honors God. 
Does it disparage him who employs physical ministers for 
the supply of our natural wants, to suppose that he ap- 
points angelic ministrations for our spiritual necessities? 
Let us not imagine that by excluding angels we render 
the idea of God more sublime. Blot out sun, moon, and 
stars of light, and would you render your idea of infinite 
space more lofty? Nay. If you would be moved with 
immensity, ascend the heavens, and, with the measuring 
rod of modern astronomy, pass from sun to sun, from 
system to system, upward, still upward, and your soul 
shall be oppressed with emotion. 

Blot out angels from your faith, and what is your idea 
of God? Interminable distance stretches out between 
you and the infinite One, and the sublimity of the 
thought is lost because the mind can not grapple with it. 
Now let concentric horizons of angels rise one above 
another between yourself and God, making the interme- 
diate space vocal with their halleluiahs, radiant with 
their robes of light, and warm with their loves and sym- 
pathies, and you can ascend, as on the ladder of Jacob, 
to the sublime hights, from which you get that sight of 
God that almost suspends the consciousness by its op- 
pressive sublimity. 

Never let the Church think she can improve her piety 
by destroying the notion of angels. The Sadduceeism 
which denies angels usually denies spirit, too. The 
nearer the saint draws to the better world, and the more 
entirely he commits himself to God, the more does he 
expect the death-privilege of him who died full of sores 
at the rich man's gate. His quivering lips usually utter 
some such strains as these : 






"Bright angels are from glory come:" 

" They're round my bed, they're in my room." 






THE SUBLIMITY OF THE BIBLE. 53 

But there are bad as well as good angels; and this leads 
me to another sublime revelation of the Bible. It is 
that of an incessant conflict in this lower world between 
the powers of evil and those of good. See two brave and 
mighty men step out for battle ! See the flashing eye, 
the compressed lip, the uplifted head, the stretched 
limbs, the clinched fist; mark the advance of the com- 
batants, the blows falling like hail-drops on each other's 
head, the blood flowing in streams down their breasts and 
mingling at their feet, the successive suspensions and 
renewals of the conflict, till both fall bloody and breath- 
less upon the sand ! Though the sight is horrid, yet 
hath it that which is sublime — the power of muscle and 
of mind, the consuming fire of passion, and the deathless 
energy of will. But what is the rush of body on body 
compared with the life-grapple of spirit with spirit? 
Look over yon broad stream. See the warrior summon- 
ing his troops from the garrison, and marshaling them in 
battle array! And now onward, onward, they tramp, 
their bayonets gleaming in the sun, whose setting beams 
must shine on many of them cold in death. Are not 
those moving columns sublime? Hark! the enemy's 
bugle blast breaks on the ear, and the war-horse smelleth 
the battle. Kegiment meets regiment, volley succeeds 
volley, the heavens grow dark with smoke, and the earth 
shakes with the thunder of artillery; and now, from 
line's end to line's end, soldier meets soldier, rushing on 
the cold steel. As you stand viewing the scene, even 
from afar, does not your cheek turn pale, and your heart 
swell with emotion? But what were such a scene to the 
great conflict of souls, for which the whole earth is a 
battle-field, and all time the day of combat, and on the 
issues of which depend eternal life and death? could 
we see, as angels do, the gleaming shields of the embat- 
tled hosts, and mark the advances and retreats of the 



54 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

opposing ranks, the obsequies of the lost soul, and the 
crowns of the triumphant ! could we see mingling in the 
fight " helmed cherubim and sworded seraphim/' fresh 
from the courts of glory, and principalities and powers 
of darkness following "the black standard that flouts the 
skies !" could we behold the slow but steady advances of 
Truth's bright forces and the retreat of Error's mad 
lines — how sublime, how inspiring a sight ! No won- 
der every advance of Immanuel's banner raises a new 
shout through all the armies of the blest ! 

There is another sublime idea of the Bible — that of 
man. There is a philosophy which teaches that man is a 
part of God, as the breath of his nostrils is a part of the 
atmosphere; that his actions and words flow from the 
Divine will, as the streams flow from the fountain; that 
he is borne onward to his destiny, as the vapor to the 
ocean; that, of course, he has neither personal soul, nor 
free agency, nor responsibility. Where, then, his sub- 
limity? A world of living men, in such a view, would 
present no more to move the soul than a world of 
sponges — their loves were but the affinities of matter, 
and their aspirations as indifferent as the ascending 
wreaths of the " will-o'-the-wisp." The bloody murderer 
on his way to the gallows is as pure and good as the bene- 
factor with his priceless charities. Such a philosophy is 
death to painting, poetry, and song. The Bible stands 
man up in the image of God, personal, moral, immortal, 
free; law, obligation, sin, holiness, an avenging power, 
heaven, hell, all come to view; now revive gratitude, 
love, sympathy, brotherhood; now every word, idle though 
it be, is docketed for the last judgment — every human 
act is sublime, for its vibrations are eternal. 

Another idea is that of God — the greatest of all ideas, 
the comprehension of all; an idea which alone would fill 
a rational mind forever, and turn an infinite void around 



THE SUBLIMITY OF THE BIBLE. 55 

it into an infinite fullness; an idea susceptible of indefi- 
nite enlargement, and incapable of being fully grasped. 
That the Scriptural idea of God is sublime need hardly 
be asserted. Indeed, every great conception is sublime 
only in proportion as it approximates this idea. Is great 
hight sublime? "If I ascend into heaven, God is there. " 
Is great depth sublime? "If I make my bed in hell, 
God is there. " Is great extent sublime? If "on the 
wings of the morning I dwell in the uttermost parts of 
the sea, even there shall thy hand find me/' Is the ex- 
hibition of great power sublime? "He is almighty/' 
Is solitude sublime? "Thou art God alone." Is dark- 
ness sublime? It is his secret place. Are the clouds 
sublime? These are his chariot. Is thunder sublime? 
That is his voice. Is obscurity sublime? His ways are 
past finding out. Is rapid motion sublime, as that of 
lightning? God speaks, and it is done; he reproves, and 
the pillars of heaven tremble. Is unbending will sub- 
lime? See God's will moving through eternity, sweeping 
before it all opposition, as the cataract does the canoes 
upon its bosom! Is holiness sublime? "Holy, holy, 
holy is the Lord God of hosts ! the whole earth is full of 
his glory." Is benevolence sublime? God out of his 
infinite fullness fills an empty universe. 

And this brings me to another sublime idea of Scrip- 
ture — that of Christ. Considered merely as a concep- 
tion, where is there a parallel? He is the subject in 
whom is fulfilled a thousand prophecies, uttered, in vari- 
ous forms and at different times, during a period of four 
thousand years. He is to be born of a virgin. Strange 
thought! He is to unite the most violent extremes. 
He hath not where to lay his head, yet by him all things 
consist; he is despised and rejected of men, yet wor- 
shiped by all the angels of God; he is hunted as a par- 
tridge upon the mountain, yet attended by legions of 



56 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

celestials; the object of scorn, yet crowned with glory 
and honor; he is of spotless virtue, yet he dies by the 
hand of the public executioner; the infant of days, yet 
the everlasting Father; feeble man, yet the mighty God; 
he sinks in death, yet rises from the grave. Why this 
mingling of man and God? it is the mystery of 
mercy! Hush! tread softly, speak low, draw not those 
curtains; in this room a child lies dying. See the par- 
ents standing at the cradle ! How the tears fall, as they 
mark convulsion after convulsion pass over that beautiful 
form ! It is an innocent child, a loving child, a well- 
beloved child. The father looks at the doctor, whose 
countenance says, "0 that I had never chosen this pro- 
fession V* That look is too much for him. He rushes to 
his chamber, overpowered by emotion; he sinks upon the 
floor, and, resting his bosom on the bedside, he says, "0 
God ! thou who hast given me this child, and this heart 
to love it, pity me ! I can bear to be a beggar, a cripple, 
a maniac; but can I bear to lose this babe? Take, I 
pray thee, my life for the child's life. here, while I 
am upon my knees, make me a corpse, and warm again 
the limbs of my first-born I" The position of that father 
is sublime; but what is it to that of Jesus, who, when 
sinful, unrepenting man was dying, stepped forth amid 
the hosts of heaven, with his eye upon the cross, and 
said, " Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body 
hast thou prepared me I" 

I imagine myself in the world's great gallery of arts. 
The first object that strikes, my attention is that amazing 
statue at the end of the gallery. I ask whence did the 
artist derive that godlike simplicity, that quiet grandeur, 
that mental strength, which he has impressed upon the 
marble ? The answer is, that is the statue of Moses — 
Michael Angelo's embodiment of the Hebrew law. My 
attention is next drawn to the cartoons of Raphael. Ad- 






THE SUBLIMITY OP THE BIBLE. 57 

miration, gratitude, astonishment, rapture breathe from 
the canvas, and the graces in unsurpassed attractions 
wait around; but what is before me. save a silent Gospel? 
Here stands the God-man on the mount of transfigura- 
tion, there the cripple leaps; here the deaf has his ears 
unstopped, there the dumb speaks; and here the blind 
man opens his eyes for the first time. 

But hark ! there is sublimity in sounds. What num- 
bers are these that flow over me, so that the tide of life 
is almost arrested in its channels ? They are the strains 
of Haydn's sublimest oratorio — the first chapter of Gene- 
sis in music. 

Enter the world's library, and ask its librarian for its 
noblest uninspired poem. He will hand you Paradise 
Lost. Open the book. Mark how uniformly grand its 
line of thought, and how, under the magic touch of its 
author, the beggar springs into a patriarch, the infant 
teems with man, the man teems with angel, and even the 
damned spirit of the pit is stamped with grandeur. How 
was Milton inspired ? He sat at the feet of the prophets 
of God. Turn to the historian, and ask for the sublimest 
uninspired character. He will point to Luther. See 
him, while the daggers of earth are drawn at him, and 
all hell, according to' his fancy, emptied on him! how 
firm, how calm he stands ! He looks up to heaven, and 
sees "its arch sustained without any pillars/' and he 
knows that the same Hand which holds up the stars can 
hold back the daggers and the devils. Ask him from 
heaven what nourished him up to his giant manhood. He 
will say,' "I hung upon my pater-noster as a child upon 
his mother's breast." 



58 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



Ittinumitg arajung Christians. 

IN union is strength. What built the pyramids ? 
What gave Europe religious freedom ? What gave 
Columbia civil liberty ? "Union. Combination is as im- 
portant in the Church as in the world. 

Christian union is likely to be the question of the age, 
and every intelligent friend of Jesus rejoices at the pros- 
pect. It is time for rival sects to look at points of agree- 
ment rather than of difference, and combine their ener- 
gies against common foes, instead of wasting them in 
wars among themselves. Chalmers, Bickersteith, James, 
and kindred spirits, are sounding the alarm upon the 
mountains of Zion, and mustering Israel's scattered 
hosts. 

Favorable for the Protestant cause as are the signs of 
the times, infidelity rejoices, and Romanism triumphs. 
The reason is obvious. Efforts at union press upon the 
world the question, "Why disagree?" the stumbling- 
block of the skeptic — the palisade of the Pope. It is to 
this we ask attention. 

It is necessary, however, to make some preliminary 
observations. Every man of sound mind, with the Bible 
in hand, can as readily maintain a proper relation to the 
moral world as he does to the external. The great truths 
that there is a God, that man is a sinner, that Christ is a 
Savior, that repentance and faith are the conditions of 
salvation, that obedience to God is the way to heaven, are 
as easily understood from revelation as that fire will burn, 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 59 

and water drown, and food nourish, or that when the 
buds put forth we have spring, and when the leaves fall 
from the forest there is autumn. And, so far as these 
truths are concerned, Christians — few exceptions — har- 
monize — perhaps much farther. 

The points in which Christians agree are more numer- 
ous than those in which they differ. While we are con- 
stantly seeking for differences, and turning our eyes from 
correspondences, we may fancy ourselves far apart; but 
place two different Protestant Christians in Pekin, or on 
the banks of the Nile, and they will run to each other's 
embrace. As they lift the standard of the cross in the 
sight of heathen abominations, they stand shoulder to 
shoulder; and as they proclaim the unsearchable riches 
of Christ, they are scarce conscious of any discord in 
their instructions. 

The points in which they agree are in the Bible ; those 
in which they disagree are out of the Bible, and in creeds 
and confessions of faith. 

The points in which Christians agree are fundamental; 
those in which they disagree are of secondary import- 
ance. In the terraqueous globe, we see transition, sec- 
ondary, and tertiary rocks overlapping one another in a 
long series; yet, at the' profoundest depths, and the lofti- 
est hights, we find the granite; so, though infinite the 
strata, and diversified the forms, in which the revolutions 
of ages have deposited secondary doctrines, they all re- 
pose upon the flanks of primitive mountain truths, which 
underlie and overtop them. 

It is matter of little consequence to a dying sinner 
how, or how many God has elected, if he has made his 
own calling and election sure. He that persevereth to 
the end, will not be damned because he has mistaken 
concerning the doctrine of u final perseverance." Would 
that we could draw the attention of the Church more to 



60 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

fundamentals — the region of disturbance is that of non- 
essentials. It is said that there is a bay in Lake Huron 
over which the air is so charged with electricity, that no 
person has ever traversed it without hearing peals of 
thunder; but that bay is out of the ordinary paths of 
commerce. 

The points in which Christians agree are facts ; those 
in which they differ are theories. There is a God; this 
is a fact. None denies it but the fool, and he denies it 
in his heart, not head. But if we venture into the fath- 
omless question, how he exists, we may expect storms. 
There are three persons in the Godhead — another fact. 
Admitted. But the moment we begin to inquire how 
the Trinity is in unity, we speculate — we dispute. It is 
a fact that Jesus saves. Agreed. How ? How many ? 
Now we theorize. Beware, or we shall differ. The Holy 
Spirit operates in regeneration — a fact — a concord. The 
disagreement is on the question, how? wherefore? 

But we recur to the question, why, since Protestant 
Christians agree that the Bible is the only and sufficient 
rule of faith, and that whatever is not contained therein, 
or may not be proved thereby, ought not to be received, 
do they differ even in minor points? 

1. There are original differences in mind. Variety 
beautifies all the Creator's works. In the mineral world 
we have hill, valley, desert, and plain : in the vegetable, 
the lichen of the reef, and the oak of the mountain 
united with intermediate vegetation, blending by imper- 
ceptible gradations; in the animal, a similar series, from 
the polypus to the mammoth ; so in the rational, minds 
range one above another; so in heaven, one star differeth 
from another star in glory. But unanimity on all sub- 
jects would imply equality of mental power. True, near 
objects, in a strong light, may be seen with sufficient dis- 
tinctness to prevent dispute, by men possessing optics of 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 61 

different degrees of perfection; but let the objects be re- 
moved farther, or the light diminished, and the superi- 
ority of the sharp-sighted will be manifest. 

We do not all survey things with equal advantages. 
Our secular avocations place us in various positions, plung- 
ing some through the shafts of the mine, and raising 
others to Chimborazoan hights. Our training differs. 
Some are left to look out merely with the mental eye- 
balls which nature has given them ; others are furnished, 
by education, with every variety of intellectual optical 
instruments. Some can scarce find time to reflect that 
there is a God; others have nothing to do but, in outer 
or inner temples, to gaze, and reason, and wonder, and 
adore. 

Minds differ in capacity. Some, like sponge, are soon 
satiated ; others, like water, which, all through the scale, 
has an undiminished appetite for heat, however high 
their attainments in science, are never without an ar- 
dent thirst. Some are achromatic; they refract light 
without dispersion : so that, however feeble the ray, or 
distant the object which radiates it, the vision is dis- 
tinct; others, like the prism, decompose every simple 
beam they transmit, and hence array every thing in rain- 
bow plumage. Happy souls, to them all is beautiful — 
nothing clear. 

Minds differ in tenacity. On some, facts are inscrip- 
tions on the sand, on others pyramids in dog-tooth spar. 
So in temperament. One shoots his pistols with an ici- 
cle, another, like phosphureted hydrogen, takes fire at 
every puff, and always rises in a wreath of vapor. Thus, 
also, in regard to consistency. One, like asbestos, remains 
fixed even in the furnace, another, like the bay, fluctu- 
ates with every wind. 

2. Among the most operative and wide-spread influ- 
ences that warp the judgment are the moral feelings. 



62 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Their power is frequently alluded to in the Scriptures. 
Mark the effect of rebellion in the following passage : 
" Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him 
not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in 
their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened : 
professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." 
Romans i, 21, 22. Mark the influence of obedience : 
" If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doc- 
trine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of my- 
self." Behold the blinding effect of avarice : •" If our 
Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom 
the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them 
which believe not," etc. No man can see truth through 
a gold bandage. If one take up the Bible to refute it, 
ought we to expect that he will be convinced ? A man 
has no right within a jury-box when a prisoner whom he 
has prejudged is at the bar. The influence of passion 
upon judgment is discoverable every-where and every 
day. The sluggard always sees a lion in the way. How 
difficult to convince the coward of a necessity for the 
sword, or to find an object of charity sufficiently forlorn 
to loosen the miser's purse-strings ! Rooted hostility to 
God impairs the sinner's vision, while the increasing 
spirit of obedience clarifies the medium through which the 
saint looks at God's word. As he treads the path which 
shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day, he is 
more and more qualified to read; and pages which he 
could not decipher at all, at setting out, he can readily 
comprehend as he nears the plains of light. But we 
need not argue this point, since it is one so generally 
admitted. How common are such expressions as these : 



' Convince a man against his will, 
He's of the same opinion still." 






"The wish was father to the thought !" When we con- 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 63 

sider how various are men's moral states, how many are 
the degrees between the lowest and the highest grade of 
piety, we need not wonder that there should be various 
opinions in regard to moral truth. 

Allied to the feelings are some mental habits which 
strongly influence the judgment. Credulity is a tend- 
ency to believe a statement without sufficient proof. 
This is natural ; indeed, no child could be reared without 
it. What evidence has the child that water will drown ? 
Our credulity in relation to matters of religion is stronger 
than in regard to any thing else : hence, we find the 
faith of the father generally adopted by the son. Thus 
are transmitted many errors and absurdities. Some 
minds, when convinced that they are too credulous, run 
to the opposite extreme, and either deny the Bible, or ra- 
tionalize its statements, till they make its miracles op- 
tical illusions or mesmeric phenomena. This is the more 
dangerous and unphilosophical, and, in our day, more 
common extreme. 

Superstition — considered subjectively — is a mental 
habit to which we are naturally prone, in the inverse 
ratio of our knowledge. It leads us to believe, without 
adequate reason, in the supernatural — ghosts, specters, 
apparitions — phenomena often nothing more than the 
illusions of the fancy or the sense — or to ascribe to 
supernal or infernal agency events traceable to sec- 
ondary causes, or which may, by reasonable analogy, be 
inferred to result from such causes. Disease, for in- 
stance, is often ascribed to witchcraft. Any thing which 
is clearly demonstrated by experience, or asserted in the 
word of Grod, we are bound to believe ) and whatever is 
traced in the sacred Scriptures to supernatural power, it 
is madness to ascribe to physical causes. But we must 
guard against that tendency of our nature, which in- 
duced the heathen to trace every thing to superhuman 



64 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

power, and populate every mountain, and valley, 
plain with divinities. 

Superstition has given rise to much error and confu- 
sion in the Christian Church, by leading to a false inter- 
pretation of the Bible, and by perverting true doctrines. 
Lord Bacon has the following just observations on this 
subject: 

"It is better to have no opinion of God at all, than 
such an opinion as is unworthy of him; for the one is 
unbelief, the other is contumely; and certainly supersti- 
tion is the reproach of the Deity. Plutarch saith well 
to that purpose : ( Surely, I had a great deal rather men 
should say there was no such man as Plutarch, than that 
they would say there was one Plutarch that would eat his 
children as soon as they were born, as the poets speak of 
Saturn.' And as the contumely is greater toward God, 
so the danger is greater toward men. Atheism leaves a 
man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to 
reputation, all which may be guides to an outward moral 
virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dis- 
mounts all these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in 
the minds of men ; therefore, Atheism did never per- 
fect states, for it makes men wary of themselves, as look- 
ing no further — and we see the times inclined to Athe- 
ism civil times, as the time of Augustus. But supersti- 
tion hath been the confusion of many states, and bringeth 
in a new primum mobile, which ravisheth all the spheres 
of government." 

3. The Bible is often studied in a wrong spirit. Too 
great liberties have been taken with it. Catechisms, 
creeds, and commentaries have their uses. If a man 
fairly deduce important truth from the word of God, he 
will have a desire that his children and neighbors should 
derive benefit from his labors, and his duty coincides 
with this desire. There can be no reason why he should 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 65 

not print as well as utter what he believes; and if he 
arrange it in interrogative form, he will have a catechism. 
If an ecclesiastical council agree upon the results of 
more extensive labors, why not embody and perpetuate 
those results in a confession of faith ? If they disagree 
in their conclusions, there is a still greater reason why 
those conclusions should be expressed. There being 
in the Bible allusions to customs, manners, and events 
not generally understood, why not have a commentary ? 
But all these productions should be cautiously made and 
used. In imparting divine truth, arrangement may be a 
very important matter, and surely that of the Holy Ghost 
is the best — the irregular, not the scientific. The enter- 
prise of treating theology as a science was not under- 
taken till the seventh century; nor was it till the elev- 
enth that the first production in the shape of a general 
system of theology — that of Anselm — made its appear- 
ance. We know not, however, that the first century 
found any more difficulty in understanding the word 
than the twelfth. Mode, also, may be of consequence. 
He who teaches by catechism or creed, adopts the syn- 
thetic : he who instructs by the Bible, the analytic. 
Revelation, for instance, no where announces the truth, 
" There is a God/' but leads us out to nature, and says, "In 
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." 
It no where formally says there is a Redeemer, but it in- 
troduces us to Jesus, and shows him dying on the cross. 
It is the beautiful and just remark of Fourcroy, that 
the sciences are studied analytically, and learned synthet- 
ically. Is the Bible to be learned or studied ? More- 
over, it is not only a science, to be grappled by the mind, 
but a moral panorama, intended to move the heart. If 
you wish to impress your child with the beauties of na- 
ture, would you analyze your garden, and present to him 
the fragrance in one bottle and the colors in another, the 

6 



66 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

roots in this basket and the stems in that ? or would you 
take him out, and let the living, blooming wonders regale 
his senses as he passed ? Send youth into the garden of 
God. The Bible presents truth in a certain consistence; 
the catechism and the creed concentrate it; the com- 
mentary dilutes it. The range within which we may 
safely distill or weaken truth has its limits. Although 
our natural food may be variously dressed to suit our 
tastes, we may easily make it unwholesome. A farmer, 
learning that the nutriment of hay might be extracted 
by boiling water, fed his cattle on decoctions, but soon 
found they were dying. The part he deemed useless, 
though without nutritious properties, was necessary to 
give the distension indispensable to healthy digestion. 

The Bible should be primary, in relation to the creed, 
both in time and importance. If this order be inverted, 
the human production becomes the medium through 
which the divine is read. Look through a green glass; 
you see the sun itself green. Study the Bible through 
the spectacles of a creed or commentary, and you see 
eternal truth discolored. Look, therefore, at the creed 
through the Bible, not the Bible through the creed. 

The Bible is often studied without a proper object. 
Many in searching the Scriptures do not find truth, 
simply because they do not icant it. Their seeking of 
holy things, like the Pharisee's prayer, inflates them with 
self-consequence, and fits them to dispute. Some study 
objectless. Bernard rode all day along the Lemnian lake, 
and at last inquired ivhere he was. So have we seen men 
travel with great pains through and through the Bible, 
and never know where they are. Such may be led any 
where by the sleight of men, or the cunning craftiness 
of the deceiver, who lieth in wait. Others read with a 
vain curiosity. The colonists of Jamestown once discov- 
ered a rivulet blushing with shining particles, which 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 67 

they took for gold. They immediately abandoned the 
culture of the earth to search for this pretended treas- 
ure, and soon loaded a boat with useless talc. A famine 
was the consequence. The desire of imitating the wise 
induces thousands of ignorant men to seek for the shin- 
ing dust washed down by the river of truth, instead of 
drawing the bread of life from its banks, and the water 
of life from its crystal stream. Foolish souls, they have 
many disputes over their spangles, and finally famish. 
These are they ever learning, and never able to come to 
the knowledge of the truth. We saw one distressed 
about the roots of " Gog and Magog." He lost the root 
of the matter in the root of the words. 

Some enter upon the truth with a spirit of wild temer- 
ity. A designing or crazed priest blows a new horn upon 
the mountains. Thousands, charmed with the novelty, 
neglect their families and pursuits, and, with Bacchana- 
lian cries, follow the strange leader. Ignorant of his- 
tory, they talk flippantly of the ancients; without study, 
they philosophize about sun, moon, and stars ; without 
Hebrew, or Greek, or hermeneutics, they go through the 
fields of theology, Shamgars, or Jaels, slaying every en- 
emy with an ox-goad, or a nail. Abroad in Matthew, 
they are at home in Daniel; blind to plain truth, they 
behold with open vision where Gabriel might spread his 
wing over his eye. These are they to locate hell and 
unsettle earth, to name the father of Melchisedek, and 
fix, to a day, the birth of Satan and the death of the 
world. Presently u they come up with their cattle and 
their tents, and they come up as grasshoppers for multi- 
tude, and they enter into the land to destroy it." Fi- 
nally, some one among them dreams of iC barley bread 
tumbling into the host," and they are gone. Such men 
are proof against the resources of logic; for, in fancy, 
they bake unleavened cakes for angels ; but they grad- 



68 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

ually yield to the slow workings of common sense. 
Their vagaries are, however, the seeds of future error 
and contention. 

The spirit of controversy is unfavorable to truth. There 
are times when controversy in Zion is necessary ) but ere 
we commence it, let us see that it is unavoidable and 
well-timed; that it succeed not precede investigation, 
and that it be conducted in the fear of God. Alas ! how 
many theologians debate with less reverence than the 
mathematician bends over his equation, the statuary his 
marble, or the painter his canvas. When Sir Isaac New- 
ton approached the solution of his great problem, he was 
so overcome that he was obliged to call upon a friend to 
complete th j demonstration. With what solemnity should 
we handle the truth of God ! Can men see truth when 
they contend for victory? Not were she to come visibly 
as an angel of light. In the battle of Thrasymene, the 
heated soldiers of Rome and Carthage fought in the bo- 
som of an earthquake, and knew it not. 

4. Human authority is often put in the place of Di- 
vine. The mind, conscious of its weakness, and averse 
to laborious inquiry, is prone to repose confidence in the 
authority of great names. This inclination explains the 
fact, that errors outraging common sense have been 
widely spread and long perpetuated. For thirteen centu- 
ries Aristotle, unquestioned, gave universal laws to phi- 
losophy, and Galen to medicine. The rabbis blinded 
the Jews to their prophecies, and the monks brought on 
the dark ages. There are systems of theology yet rear- 
ing their venerable heads, defying the assaults of reason, 
because shielded by the aegis of authority. Many, too, 
are the modern errors which survive, because they orig- 
inated at universities, or are sanctioned by honored 
names. Often does error take the place of truth, be- 
cause introduced by authority, while she herself is re- 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 69 

sisted, because unfashionable. For more than two centu- 
ries fruitless efforts were made, by argument and experi- 
ment, to bring the potato into use, till Louis XV, on a 
festive day, wore, amid his court, a bunch of its flowers. 
At once its virtues were acknowledged, and its use 
spread through all ranks and all lands. The pusillani- 
mous youth, who, to ape some pseudo-philosopher, and 
exhibit his contempt for inferior minds, tramples the 
Bible in the dust, would press the treasure to his lips, 
if he should see some monarch or warrior wear a leaf of 
it in his hat. The crowning argument of thousands still 
is, "Have any of the rulers believed on hini?" Shame 
on poor human nature, that the millennium must delay 
till kings become nursing fathers, and queens nursing 
mothers in the Church. 

Think not so meanly of your soul as to repose your 
faith upon another; nevertheless, remember that there is 
a mad independence. Let none contemn his fellows, or 
refuse their reasonable aid. There are who fail to dis- 
cern between the budless and the blooming ensigns of 
authority. God teaches reliance on our fellows to a cer- 
tain extent. There are limits within which the child 
must look to the father, and the youth to the tutor, and 
there is a point where reason must yield to faith. Nature 
is prone to extremes. Voltaire, prince of infidel dark- 
ness, long blinded by authority, bursting the brazen fet- 
ters with which his peerless powers had been bound, 
rashly seized the pillars of truth, and said, "I will be 
avenged for my two eyes." He was to be pitied ; but 
not more than he who, in consideration of some author- 
ity he courts, or dreads, bars the truth that struggles in 
the prison of his conscience. 

5. Imagination has had much influence in perverting 
the truth. Men seek to introduce the fine arts into the 
house of God. Because Athens had her Jupiter, Rome 



70 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

must have her Peter ; because Asia had her Diana, Eu- 
rope must have her " Mary." The fine arts have their 
sphere, and it is great and gorgeous. Let the Athenian 
mold Apollo with his curling locks ; let Polycletus shape 
Juno with her broad forehead ; let Phidias hew Jupiter 
on his throne, with his scepter and his eagle ; or frame 
Minerva full armed, with a score of deities beneath her 
feet, we will not complain, nor shall we wonder, if on 
asking the poor Pagan, " For what intent?" he should 
reply, u To add new feelings to the religion of Greece." 
Nor will we curse him should we see his own bald head 
stamped upon the buckler; but let the chisel and the 
pencil, if they would sport with eternal truth, think of 
"the men of Bethshemesh." The fine arts may have 
sacred uses. We quarrel not with the Moses of Michael 
Angelo, though we shudder at his living or dead Christ. 
Such things may be forgiven the dark ages, but what 
of this age if it turn God's revelation into pictures ? 
But blasphemy stops not here. It would represent the 
burning bush before which Moses unbound his sandals, 
and the mount that burned amid blackness, and dark- 
ness, and tempest, even the glory that passed by when 
the Mediator of the covenant was hid in the cleft of the 
rock — it would lend coloring to the Invisible, and relievo 
to the Eternal — it would make a show of the Father, and 
lead us to love him by apparitions of his son. Restrain 
not that image of God which Scripture presents, and 
which, because unlimited, admits of expansion forever. 
Many, from a laudable desire to make the truth attract- 
ive to the tasteful and the fashionable, have attempted to 
ornament it. Ornament ! What ! would you tie ribbons 
to the sun ? The characters of Scripture have been 
made the interlocutors of the drama, and even repre- 
sented upon the stage. Disgusting profanation — like ad- 
ministering baptism to a dog. The oracles which God 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 71 

hath immured with dread by putting into them his holy 
name — that name which rends rocks, shakes hell, iinpar- 
adises heaven, have been borne on the shoulders of giant 
genius up the steeps of Helicon, to be the sport of fan- 
tastic wanderings through illusive groves, and by intoxi- 
cating fountains. And poetry hath apologized for her 
daring, by assuming that the divine Being needed the 
aid of fantasy u to justify his ways to man." Behold 
absurdity married to recklessness ! Poetry justify — ar- 
gue — investigate? Poesy has her walk. She possesses 
wit, imagination, and sensibility. Bring folly and she 
can satirize; beauty, and she can paint; vice, and she 
can declaim ; blow a trumpet, and, like Achilles in Scy- 
ros, she'll rattle armor; close all her senses, and she'll 
plume her wings for boundless flight. But in investiga- 
tion she hath ever been as Polyphemus, one-eyed or eye- 
less. "What of sacred poetry? That is an exception. 
David, Isaiah, etc., like the angel that appeared to Ma- 
noah, ascended upward in the altar's flames. I may be 
thought to despise what all the world worshipeth. Mil- 
ton had an eagle genius, and its flights were of surpass- 
ing sublimity, but better had it perched in other garden 
than that guarded by cherubic sword — better spread its 
wing of light on other darkness than the " blackness of 
darkness;" better performed its gyrations in other fir- 
mament than that irradiated by the Eternal throne. I 
know he is considered steady in the main, and it is a 
wonder how his inflated spirit, in her sightless flights, 
could so well baffle the sportive winds. 

6. Association has frequently given rise to confusion 
and contention. It is often difficult to distinguish be- 
tween the casual and the essential. Soranus, the cotem- 
porary of Galen, prescribes as a remedy for the aphtha3 
of children, honey taken from bees that hived near the 
tomb of Hippocrates. Is it wonderful that certain ordi- 



72 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

nances and graces, because they go pari passu, may be 
regarded as cause and effect; that where two or more 
conditions are required for a specific effect, one only may 
be regarded in accounting for the result; that a cause 
may be considered an effect, or an effect a cause, as in 
considering the subject of prayer? Is it wonderful that 
the healing influence of the balm of Gilead should be 
attributed in part to the cup in which it was adminis- 
tered; that we should often be sent for divine truth 
through the most revolting human errors, or that the 
purifying power of Jesus' blood should be confounded in 
the imagination of the sinner with the wood of an im- 
aginary cross? Moreover, we are wont to regard with 
reverence whatever awakens religious emotion; nor is 
this tendency of our nature difficult of explanation. The 
home of youth, how dear ! Whether we have been reared 
in the region of ice or of palm-trees, in the ship-girded 
city or the solitude of the forest, beside the toppling gla- 
cier, or on the flowery banks of the Nile, the scenes 
where we first drank in the light, and caught our guile- 
less hearts in love, are charming to the sense, because 
they awaken in the soul its earliest, liveliest, sweetest 
joys. Hence the strange charm of maternity — hence 
the fond reminiscences and pardonable croakings of tot- 
tering age. Thus, too, every thing is sublime which the 
eye sees when the heart trembles and is moved out of its 
place. Thus, God ! when thou dost cause thy glory to 
pass before us, whether in the silent chamber or in the 
midst of the riven thunder cloud, the ground is holy. 
Is it surprising that we cling to the altar, the creed, the 
song consecrated by conversion, and the thanksgiving of 
our new-made hearts! Go, proud infidel, if thou canst 
reconcile it to the dignity of philosophy, survey the 
motley, ghastly, lengthened crowd of errors that religion, 
in her march of ages, has chained to her chariot wheels. 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 73 

By these would you fix upon her the stamp of folly or of 
mischief? Know that they are trophies of her matchless 
power — hostages for the fealty of her subjugated realms. 
Show another triumphal car that can drag such a train. 
Christian, be not impatient to thrust the plowshare of an 
avenging God through every wheat-field that hath tares. 
Thy Savior taught a better philosophy. 

7. Numerous as are the errors #and disputes resulting 
from original peculiarities of mind, moral feelings, im- 
agination, and association, they are less numerous than 
those resulting from causes more purely intellectual, of 
which we shall only mention a few. 

Misunderstand ing. Language is but an imperfect in- 
strument of thought. Terms are liable to be employed 
in different degrees of comprehension, and to be used out 
of their common acceptation. They are ambiguous, 
either in themselves, or from being used in different 
intentions. Take charity and faith as examples. If 
words belong to a living language, they are subject to an 
entire reversal of their meaning. An example of this is 
the word u prevent," which, in the Methodist Discipline, 
means assistance, and, in common parlance, hinderance. 
Many a discussion might have been spared, if the dispu- 
tants, before entering upon it, had defined the terms of 
the proposition to be discussed. Theologians have been 
too much in the habit of denning for each other instead 
of allowing each to define for himself. When sensible 
and pious Christians understand each other perfectly, 
they feel but little inclination to contend. 

Hasty generalization : the fault of superficial and impa- 
tient observers. Werner, inhabiting Saxony, where the 
rocks, all stratified, evidently belong to the aqueous 
period, supposed the globe was deposited from water. 
Hutton, dwelling in Scotland, a primitive region, where 
the rocks are igneous, believed the world to be made by 

7 



74 31 ORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

fire. These theories for years divided geologists, who 
debated them with feelings into which more of the Plu- 
tonian than the Neptunian element entered. Thus, some 
theologians, observing the moral world chiefly in its more 
orderly aspects, have regarded its monuments of evil as 
depositions from a pure ocean, by the gradual influence 
of disturbing causes. Others, from a different but no 
less partial survey, trace all the scenes of the moral 
world, with the exception of a little spot around them- 
selves, to the upheaving of hell's volcanic paroxysms. A 
comprehensive view shows both agencies : the fiery ocean 
of depravity and the cooling seas of grace. 

Wrong methods of interpretation. It is impossible for 
men to educe the same truths from a boot, unless they 
agree upon rules of exegesis. How various have been 
such rules for the word of God ! In the first age suc- 
ceeding the apostles, oriental philosophy sought a union 
with Christianity, and gave rise to the error of Gnosti- 
cism. Foremost among celebrated commentators on the 
Bible stands Origen — wayward in fancy, laborious in re- 
search, rich in learning, exalted in piety, but lamentably 
deficient in judgment. He laid down the principle that 
the Bible must not be understood as it is written, but 
according to a hidden sense. This opened an unknown 
sea, and hid both rudder and compass. Every bark 
launched upon it was the sport of the winds; and if two 
of its navigators reached the same port, the event was 
mysterious. In the third century came Manes, a Persian, 
who endeavored to form a union of the doctrines of the 
Gospel and those of the magi. God he considered to be 
light, the evil principle darkness, and Christ a messenger 
from God to hasten the return of the imprisoned spirits 
to the celestial country. Next came the scholastic the- 
ology, led on by Gregory Nazianzen among the Greeks, 
and Augustine among the Latins. This was a fusion of 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 75 

the Bible with the philosophy of Plato, and like the 
image of Nebuchadnezzar was, of course, of heterogene- 
ous materials, presenting, however, the gold in the foot, 
and the clay in the head. At a later period arose the 
Biblici, who adopted a similar plan to that of Origen, 
aiming to express "the internal juice ;" and the Scholas- 
tici, who subjected the Bible to the decisions of the Aris- 
totelian philosophy. The Reformation, which attracted 
the human mind from the enchanted circle of logical 
processes to the highway of Biblical generalization, did 
not emancipate it from metaphysics. Calvin, Luther, 
etc., were the profoundest metaphysicians of their age. 
Even now, men who investigate for themselves instead 
of following the track of others, first frame a system of 
mental philosophy, and then interpret the Bible by it. 
Better sit down to the Bible, take for granted what it 
takes for granted, or asserts, in relation to the human 
mind, and then interpret or frame mental philosophy by 
the Bible. Since the attention of men has been strongly 
recalled to the natural and exact sciences, other erroneous 
modes of interpretation have been adopted. Locke has 
a fine passage on this subject: "Some men have so used 
their heads to mathematical figures, that, giving a prefer- 
ence to the methods of that science, they introduce lines 
and diagrams into their study of divinity and political 
inquiries, as if nothing could be known without them ; 
and others, accustomed to retired speculations, run natu- 
ral philosophy into metaphysical notions, and the abstract 
generalities of logic. And how often may one meet with 
morality and religion treated of in the language of the 
laboratory, and thought to be improved by the notions of 
chemistry V 9 The language of the Bible is human lan- 
guage, and, therefore, needs no succession of authorized 
interpreters. Although it bears the impress of the times 
and nations in which it was originally given, on all great 



76 t MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

principles it rises above temporary and local peculiarities. 
It is to be interpreted by common sense, as other books 
are interpreted; but with three peculiar rules: First, no 
disconnected book of Scripture is perfect; second, proph- 
ecy must not be interpreted literally; third, typical rep- 
resentation must not be overlooked. 

Wrong methods of investigation. A German philoso- 
pher has recently announced certain alleged discoveries, 
made, not by an observation of facts, but by a twenty 
years' meditation. This statement may excite risibility 
in the reasoning reader, yet it expresses the usual mode 
of investigation up to the era of Bacon and Descartes. 
Prior to this, men either constructed philosophy of pure 
abstractions, or beginning with experiment, soon pro- 
ceeded to hypotheses. Hence, there were as many sys- 
tems as there were reasoning philosophers, and those of 
one day became the sport of the next. No wonder the 
world slept for ages, only now and then opening her eyes 
to close them in deeper slumbers. Upon the bringing in 
of a better method, nature was studied, facts accumula- 
ted, inductions made, and systems framed by slow and 
cautious generalization. Then came harmony, activity, 
solidity, progress; onward we go in the natural sci- 
ences; onward over the hills, down the valleys, digging 
the mineral, breaking the rocks, gathering the fossils; 
onward, across the prairies, through the forest, up the 
stream, over the sea, collecting specimens of every plant, 
and bird, and beast, and fish; onward, from fact to fact, 
from system to system, from science to science, from earth 
to heaven, from age to age, with footstep, slow, steady, 
sure, onward, onward. 

Unhappily, the reform thus introduced into philosophy 
has not yet extended into theology, perhaps, because men 
are jealous of invasions upon consecrated forms. Theo- 
logians still soar into the airy regions of speculation, spin 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 77 

in fancy's flights their cobweb systems, and then return 
to the Bible, determined to find a basis on which to rest 
them. Under this inverted process, men are tempted to 
overlook the missing thread, and make a way witli the 
present one, if it do not fall into the frame-work of their 
b. Mr. Addison relates the story of a portrait painter, 
who not having skill to paint from nature painted from 
fancy, and having finished his portraits, watched the 
crowd to find faces to suit them. Do you smile? Behold 
that man commencing his investigations by inquiring 
what, how, and why, God should teach, and ending by 
searching the divine word for proof of his vain con- 
jecture ! 

The Bible is not a suit of abstractions, but a collection 
of facts. The creation, the fall, the deluge, the call of 
Abraham, the history of the Jews, and of him whom 
they crucified — every thing in the Scriptures is fact, past, 
present, or prospective. If, therefore, there be a volume, 
above all others to be studied in patient detail, it is God's. 
Let men come to the Bible as Xewton went to nature. 
Sacrificing preconceived opinions, curbing imagination, 
casting to the moles and the bats the idols of original 
and reflected prejudices, let them sit with childlike 
docility at the feet of Jesus, humbly gather the rich 
truths which fall from his lips, and proceed by slow and 
careful induction from particular truths to general prin- 
ciples, and from general principles to a system; then 
shall they have one, durable in material, grand and har- 
monious in proportions, resting upon the Rock of ages, 
and bearing upon its walls watchmen, who, so far as de- 
sirable and possible, see eye to eye. 

But shall we ever attain entire unanimity? There is a 
way that promises to effect this; namely, let one man 
think for the whole Church. This is the Pope's plan, 
but even he does not succeed. The Roman Church has 



78 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

been convulsed with controversy in every age, although 
she has made her elastic articles assume all shapes to fit 
the expansions or contractions of the religious mind. 
Compare the popes — you will find one a Pelagian, pro- 
claiming heaven for good works; another, as indulgence 
peddler, offering salvation for good pay. The different 
patron saints are emblematic of the various phases of 
doctrine which the Catholic Church assumes in the coun- 
tries over which those saints respectively preside. Even 
the Alps break the continuity of Catholic opinion. The 
different corporations of friars are each the embodiment 
of a distinct conception — each animated by a spirit sui 
generis. Indeed, the idea of restraining private judg- 
ment in religion is preposterous, for it must be exercised 
even in essaying to renounce it. Before becoming a 
Catholic, a man must settle the following questions : Re- 
ligion or no religion, Christianity or some other religion, 
infallibility or no infallibility? Pope, or patriarch, or 
council? But suppose we could renounce private judg- 
ment, and thus secure unanimity, were it desirable at 
such cost? It is a general law that when action is proper 
inaction is cursed. 

Every political or religious body which locks itself up 
in unsocial exclusiveness degenerates. What is the ste- 
reotyped mind of China worth? What would have be- 
come of the Plymouth colony, if the barriers erected by 
the narrow policy of the Brownists had not been broken 
down? Glory, strength, and wisdom followed freedom of 
thought from Egypt to Greece, from Greece to Rome, 
from Rome to England, from England to Columbia. Yet 
Mother Church would trammel immortal mind. Nor is 
the Pope the only ecclesiastical tyrant. 

There are Protestants who can not brook contradiction. 
Like the famous Attican robber, who fitted his guest to 
his couch, by stretching him, if too long, and clipping 



UNANIMITY AMONG CHRISTIANS. 79 

him, if too short, they would cripple or reduce all minds 
which do not fit the measure of their dogmas. We have 
no patience with these intellectual sons of Procrustes. 

"Man talketh of himself as ignorant, but judgeth of 
himself as wise. His own guess counteth he truth, but 
the notions of another are his scorn. But bear thou yet 
with a brother, whose thought may be less subtile than 
thine own." Evils, we know, issue from religious liberty, 
but they soon remedy themselves, and at worst are less 
than those which spring from mental bondage. Better 
have error, enthusiasm, fanaticism, than stagnation of 
mind. But has the Reformation produced more of those 
dreaded results than the dark ages ? 

If the supreme Being had desired doctrinal unanimity 
in the Church, would he not have made a confession of 
faith, or group of articles? Were a council of new-made 
men or angels called to devise a plan for making a world, 
they would probably fix upon a system. They would have 
all the hills here, and alLthe plains there, and all the 
waters yonder; they would put all the trees in one place, 
and the shrubs in another, and the flowers in another, 
and arrange all other things systematically. But what 
sort of a world would they find when they came to use it? 
If the Council of Nice had been permitted to direct in 
making a revelation from heaven, they would, doubtless, 
have had every thing straight; but God's ways are not 
ours. Man is brought into revelation as he is into 
nature. He opens his eyes upon variety, wild, gorgeous, 
infinite, alluring, on which he can gaze without ever be- 
ing tired of seeing, and employ all his powers in explor- 
ing, without ever finding a limit. 

Every age has its mission : that on which we are enter- 
ing will be unspeakably important, especially in its relig- 
ious aspect. Man is prone to extremes. The past half 
century having been ecclesiastically a period of division, 



80 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

the next will probably be one of union. There is reason 
to fear, lest in the effort at reunion religious liberty may 
be sacrificed. Let this point be guarded. Let us re- 
member, that there is a circle within which men may be 
expected to differ; that we can not move mind as we do 
matter — brains are not galvanic batteries — hearts are not 
blood pumps. Meanwhile let us promote a safe progress 
toward practicable union. This is to be done, not by pit 
debate, nor quadrangular discussion, nor great assemblies, 
in which the few are to be overawed and outvoted by the 
many, but by carefully avoiding the errors which have 
heretofore led to confusion, by cultivating fraternal inter- 
course, by incidental fireside conversation on disputed 
points, and by an increase of the spirit of devotion. 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 81 



§istavnit an j&Iupiirijm. 

THE third day after the crucifixion had dawned, the 
angel of the snow-like raiment and lightning-like 
countenance had rolled away the stone from the door 
of our Savior's sepulcher, the keepers had fled, and 
Christ had come out. The Marys and Salome, bearing 
their spices to the Redeemer's grave, at the rising of 
the sun, had been startled at the opened vault; Mary 
Magdalene had run to tell Peter and John, both what she 
had seen and what she suspected, leaving the other Mary 
and Salome to go on and hear the angel say, "He is 
risen. " She who had been forgiven much, weeping at 
the sepulcher after the rest had departed, had seen and 
talked with Jesus. Mary and Salome, hastening to the 
disciples with the angel's message, having met the Sav- 
ior by the way, and held him by the feet, had worshiped 
him. Cleopas and his companion had conversed with 
the Lord on their way to Emmaus; Christ with his open 
wounds had stood in the midst of his disciples, and 
breathed on them the Holy Ghost. But Thomas was not 
convinced. The witness said, "We have seen the Lord;" 
but he replied, "Except I shall see in his hands the 
print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of 
the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not be- 
lieve." There is a large class of which St. Thomas is 
the type; they are generally respectable, favorable to 
the institutions of the Christian religion, and profess- 
edly covetous of its graces, but they ask for higher 



82 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

proof of its Divine authority than is consistent either 
with the economy of God or the probatory state of man. 
They demand the evidence of sense or of consciousness. 
This is the class here addressed, not in the language of 
harsh rebuke, but of earnest expostulation. The propo- 
sition is this, their skepticism is owing to imperfect 
views. 

To enter fully into this discussion were inconsistent 
with the limits of a single discourse. Let us, therefore, 
select a few particulars. 

I. This class has imperfect views concerning faith, its 
necessity, nature, extent, and power. Why should it be 
thought incredible that eternal life should be dependent 
on faith, seeing that temporal life is suspended on the 
same condition ? Without faith how could a child be 
reared? Rejecting testimony it could not suppose, prior 
to experience, that fire would burn, or water drown, or 
poison kill, or a sharp instrument make a fatal wound. 
Without faith how could a mature man live? It were 
easy to imagine a thousand accidents fatal to life which 
he could not long escape, while it were impossible to find 
a single occupation in which he could gain a livelihood. 
All through this life we walk by faith rather than by 
sight. How could we eat, or talk, or compose ourselves 
to sleep in peace ? how sell or buy, accept of office 01 
discharge its duties, plight our troth or lead a bride to 
the altar without faith ? The natural world, as well as the 
spiritual, would soon come to an end without it. So 
much for its necessity. As to its nature this class often 
errs, alleging that our faith in testimony ariseth from 
experience. Not so ; it is rooted in nature. Children 
at first credit all they hear; it is not till they have been 
repeatedly deceived that diffidence arises in their hearts; 
and however unfortunate a man's education and circum- 
stances may have been, he is incapable of eradicating 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 83 

this proneness to faith from his breast. I am aware 
that the carnal heart, the career of transgression, and 
the example of a wicked world, have a tendency to over- 
come faith concerning Divine things, but the utmost 
they can effect in the most hardened wretch, and through 
the longest life, is a state of doubt. This class, too, 
seems unapprised of the wide range of faith compared 
with the narrow limits of sense. In every direction in 
which science pushes her researches she soons finds a 
boundary to her walks; yet skeptics say, "We will believe 
only what we can comprehend. n Then you can believe 
nothing; for from the smallest mote in the sunbeam to 
the most distant star in the milky way, there is nothing 
comprehensible to human minds. Do you say, then, we 
will believe nothing f You can not be excused. Do you 
admit the existence of God? What more incomprehen- 
sible than a being without beginning and without 
bounds ? Do you deny the doctrine ? What more in- 
comprehensible than its contradictory? "I had rather 
believe," says Lord Bacon, " all the fables in the Legend 
and the Talmud, and the Alkoran, than that this- uni- 
versal frame is without mind;" but either there is a God 
or there is not. 

Skeptics are at a loss to see the merit of faith ; they 
should observe that though faith depends on evidence, 
the relation of evidence to the mind depends greatly on 
will, and the impression of proof on the intellect de- 
pends much on the condition of the heart. They are at 
a loss to discern the power of faith; they deem it incred- 
ible that it should bring salvation. Look around you. 
What can not faith do ? With its mighty energies in 
the soul, the chained captive becomes a conqueror; with- 
out it, the throned leader of armies is as powerless as an 
infant of days. What overturns thrones, and dominions, 
and principalities, and powers? what moves Luther, Mil- 



84: MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

ton, and Newton upward and still upward ? what are the 
pyramids and the temples, the science and the songs — 
all the monuments of a nation's glory — but the meas- 
ures of a nation's faith ? Why wonder that in spiritual 
things "it should be according to our faith f that by that 
which subdues and adorns the earth the soul should 
cleave and climb the heavens? 

II. Then skepticism has an imperfect view of God ; for 
it charges that miracles are antecedently improbable and 
unreasonable. This is founded in the supposition that 
God is limited either as to his power or his love. If, as 
Socrates declares, and history demonstrates, man needs a 
revelation from heaven, God must be disposed to give 
one — a revelation demands faith, faith implies evidence, 
and the kind of evidence required is to be determined by 
the nature of the matte?- to be proved ; for a proposition 
and its proof must be homogeneous. If moral truth re- 
quires moral evidence, and algebraic truth an algebraic 
process, and mathematical truth a mathematical demon- 
stration, supernatural truth must require supernatural at- 
testation ; then is there an antecedent probability in favor 
of miracles, measurable by the proof that mankind needs 
further moral and religious light. Nor must we suppose 
a miracle unreasonable because it is contrary to natural 
laws. He who does so must deny God and deify the laws 
of nature. Go educate yourself up to the idea of the 
Almighty, and you will see that he produces all effects ; 
that the laws of the universe do but map out the chan- 
nels of his power; and since it is as easy for him to work 
contrary to laws as according to them, so we may suppose 
that he will do so when he can thereby accomplish a 
paramount purpose. Unless, therefore, we know all that 
God knows, we can not say that the reversal of a known 
law is unreasonable. 

III. This class has imperfect views of its own terms. 









DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 85 

It says a miracle, being contrary to experience, is not 
provable by testimony, since it is more reasonable to 
suppose that testimony is false than that a miracle is 
true; this sophism is full of ambiguities. There is an 
ambiguity in the word contrary ; its meaning is opposite, 
or contradictory. When I say it is contrary to my expe- 
rience that gold should be gathered with the sand, I use 
the word contrary in a popular, though loose and im- 
proper sense ; for I mean to express not opposite experi- 
ence, but absence of experience. When I say that it is 
contrary to my experience that wild cherry-tree bark 
should invariably cure consumption, because I have 
known it used unsuccessfully, I use the term in a proper 
sense, to denote contradictory or inconsistent experience. 
Taking the word in the latter sense, it is not true that 
our Savior's miracles are contrary to experience ; for we 
were not at our Savior's side to experience the opposite 
of them. Taking the word in the former sense — absence 
of experience — this argument is worthless ; for by parity 
of reason, we could show that it is impossible to prove 
by testimony that there is any gold in California. 

The word experience, also, is ambiguous. When I say 
that, according to experience, bloodletting will reduce in- 
flammation, I use the -word experience in the improper 
but popular sense, to express a judgment derived from ex- 
perience. When I say I have experienced the pleurisy, I 
use the word in the proper sense, to denote what has oc- 
curred to my own person. The infidel, when he employs 
the sophism referred to, evidently uses the word in the 
latter sense ; but in this it is susceptible of three appli- 
cations; namely, 1. To the individual. 2. To all men. 
3. To mankind in general. If he mean individual expe- 
rience, his argument is worthless; if universal expe- 
rience, he assumes the very point in dispute; namely, 
that no one ever experienced a miracle; if usual expe- 



86 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

rienee, he proves too much; for, according to this, wo 
can not prove any thing extraordinary. When the news- 
papers announced the discovery of the electro-magnetic 
telegraph, he should have said, it is contrary to expe- 
rience for thoughts to be conveyed through wire, but not 
contrary to experience that men should lie ; therefore, no 
testimony can prove that there is such a thing as Morse's 
Telegraph. There is another ambiguity in the sophism 
under consideration ; it is in the word testimony. This 
may mean either testimony in general, or a particular tes- 
timony; if the word be used in the former sense, the 
premise is true, but the argument is invalid; for it is not 
by testimony in the abstract, but by a particular testi- 
mony that the miracles of the Gospel are established. 
Though testimony in general is fallacious, there is a spe- 
cies of it on which men implicitly rely; that is, a spe- 
cies which at once excludes the idea of fraud on the one 
hand, and delusion on the other — the very kind which we 
offer for the Christian miracles. To illustrate in a popular 
mode, suppose you go into court with indisputable proof 
of your title to a particular estate, what will it avail for 
opposing counsel to say, testimony is faPacious; this is 
testimony, therefore this is fallacious? you would reply, 
" Grant that testimony is fallacious, it is incumbent on 
you to show, in order to defeat my claim, that the partic- 
ular testimony on which it rests is false. " 

IV. This skepticism takes imperfect views of the 
Christian evidences. I instance in the following par- 
ticulars : 

1. It judges of these evidences as of ordinary testi- 
mony. The skeptic charges us with unfairness, because, 
as he alleges, we judge of the testimony in proof of mira- 
cles as we would of that adduced on the trial of a prisoner 
in a court of justice, whereas it requires more evidence to 
prove a miracle than an ordinary fact. We deny the 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 87 

charge, and assert that we adduce more proof of miracles 
than of common events; if we require as much evidence 
of every thing as we offer for the Christian revelation, it 
is doubtful whether the world could prove any historic 
fact; and now we retort the charge — the skeptic is unfair, 
because he judges of our testimony as he would if it 
were adduced before a civil tribunal, in the examination 
of a point such as is usually litigated among men. In 
other words, he judges of the testimony after taking it 
from its connection, which is as though he were to exam- 
ine the eloquence of a tongue after cutting it from its 
mouth. Would you, says the skeptic, if you had been 
on the jury which tried Dr. Webster for the murder of 
Dr. Parkman, although the evidence had been as strong 
as you can imagine, have been ready to convict him, if, 
while you were seated in the jury-box, Dr. Parkman had 
come bodily into court ? I answer, no. To do so would 
be to suppose that a man once dead can, by the opera- 
tion of ordinary laws, come to life; but a miracle, in the 
theological sense, involves no such supposition. What is 
a miracle ? It is a suspension, control, or reversal of a 
known law by the act, assistance, or permission of God, 
and preceded by a notification that it is performed for 
the evidence of some particular doctrine, or the attesta- 
tion of the authority of some particular person. In the 
case supposed, three things are wanting to constitute 
it miraculous : 1. The previous notice, which creates ex- 
pectation and awakens scrutiny; 2. The supposition of 
Divine interposition, which would be an adequate cause; 
3. A heavenly message for mankind, affording the Al- 
mighty sufficient motive for his interference with estab- 
lished laws. 

2. It judges of each miracle as though it were alone. 
A chain that might moor the earth could not, if its links 
were separated, hold a ship to her anchor. If you could 



88 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

find a mode of explaining each miracle of our Savior's 
separately, ascribing one to legerdemain, another to col- 
lusion, a third to enthusiasm, a fourth to optical illusion, 
etc., it would by no means follow that you could account 
for the whole series without the supposition of super- 
natural power; more particularly when you consider their 
number, instantaneousness, variety, publicity, obvious- 
ness, benevolence, certainty, permanence, and independ- 
ence of second causes, besides the pure morality and 
blameless lives of the Savior and his followers. Let us 
illustrate. Suppose a prisoner on trial for his life, and 
the verdict of the jury is to turn upon the question 
whether a certain suspected mixture contains arsenic. 
To determine this point, it is placed in the hands of a 
skillful chemist, who brings it into court in four vessels, 
in which he has the results of so many different tests. 
In one he holds up a yellow precipitate, in another a 
green one, produced by a certain preparation of silver, in 
a third he exhibits a turbid liquid, resulting from the in- 
troduction of a particular acid, and in the fourth he 
shows a metallic ring obtained by a certain gas. Now let 
the question be put : Can either of these tests be relied 
on ? The answer is, no. Let the further question be 
asked : Can all these tests, taken together, be relied on ? 
The answer is an unequivocal, emphatic "yes;" they 
exclude doubt. The miracles in the one case are pro- 
duced by one character, and the appearances in the other 
by one metal, and the problem in each case requires a so- 
lution consistent with this unity. The fallacy in scien- 
tific language is that of composition, and the following 
one is analogous to it : Three, and two, and four are three 
numbers; nine is three, two, and four; therefore, nine is 
three numbers. 

3. Skepticism is chargeable with another mark of un- 
fairness. It overlooks one whole class of our Savior's 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 89 

miracles. Miracles are of two kinds; namely, displays 
of supernatural intellectual power, and displays of super- 
natural physical power. Were one to bid you to go to 
the banks of the Detroit, and cast a net into it at a par- 
ticular spot, and assure you that if you followed his direc- 
tion you would take a fish having in its mouth a Spanish 
pistareen, bearing date 1753, should you verify his pre- 
diction you would have before you a display of supernat- 
ural mental power; or were one to predict that the Mich- 
igan peninsula one hundred years hence would be occu- 
pied by the Turks, and governed by the Sultan, and 
should his prophecy be fulfilled, he would work an intel- 
lectual miracle. 

Observe that this is entirely* different from a shrewd 
guess, or the foresight of surpassing wisdom, which some- 
times works wonderful conclusions from given data; for 
here there are no premises to go upon, no causes in train 
to produce the result; indeed, all appearances and laws 
are against it. Were one to turn back the waters of the 
Ohio with a rod, or overthrow a spur of the Alleghanies 
with a touch, he would work a physical miracle. Our 
Savior is alleged to have wrought both kinds, yet the 
former is often overlooked by the skeptic. 

4. It is wont to overlook the fact that our Savior was 
himself a miracle. Were you to tell me that a carpen- 
ter in Pontiac had risen from the grave the third day 
after his interment, I should give no heed to your tale, 
but let it pass as the idle wind. Go another step, bring 
before me twelve men, of unimpeachable character and 
good sense, who testify to the fact, I should think them 
deceived. Prove that they could not be deceived ; that 
they knew the carpenter well; that they were with him 
when he died; heard his last words, and closed his dy- 
ing eyes ; that they saw the surgeon open his breast and 

examine his lungs and heart; and that after his resurrec- 

8 



90 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

tion they had talked with him, eaten with him, and put 
their hands into his side ; that he had predicted his res- 
urrection, and that his enemies had hired armed men of 
their own number to watch the place of his interment; 
that while they were on duty the earth was thrown from 
the grave, and the body was missing, I should then think 
they were dishonest. Prove that for their testimony 
they had suffered the loss of goods, reputation, office, 
and that, stripped of all things, they were engaged in 
proclaiming the miracle in the midst of toils, dangers, 
and sufferings; lead them out before a platoon of sol- 
diers, and read them an order from government that if 
they persisted in their testimony they should be shot 
dead, if, while the bullets were speeding to their breasts, 
they should joyfully renew their testimony, I should be 
in a quandary. Mind has its laws as well as matter; it 
is contrary to physical laws that a dead man should burst 
from the grave ; it is inconsistent with mental laws that 
human mind should break from motive influence and 
reverse its mode of action. Here, then, I should have, 
on the one hand, a natural miracle, on the other a moral 
one. Which I should choose I wot not. Add another 
circumstance, that the resurrection was announced be- 
fore as a work of God, in attestation of the Divine au- 
thority, of a glorious and salutary revelation to mankind, 
and the balance would begin to incline in favor of the 
physical miracle. At this point prove that the carpenter 
was more than a carpenter, a great, a popular, a blame- 
less, an effective reformer — more than a man, a miracu- 
lous character, the antitype of a line of types, and the 
subject of prophetic song in all past ages, my doubts 
would be dissipated, and I should cry, "All hail V 

5. Skepticism overlooks the fact that the nation which 
gave Messiah birth is herself a miracle — a miracle in her 
origin, her character, her institutions, her preservation, 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 91 

her dispersions; no less a miracle in her sins than in her 
obedience, her trials than her triumphs. From the time 
that it was first said that the God of glory appeared to 
our father Abraham, down to the present hour, she is a 
problem of which the strange hand of Omnipotence is 
the only solution. View her rising from Goshen, and 
moving through the sea; behold her as she comes from 
Sinai, and rises up from Mt. Seir with ten thousand of 
her saints, and the fiery law streaming from her right 
hand; view her dwelling in safety beside the fountain 
of Jacob, issuing upon a land of corn and wine beneath 
heavens that drop down dew; view her smitten, yet not 
destroyed; plunged into the furnace, but not consumed; 
carried captive, but preserving her tribeship and her 
ensigns till the coming of her Sliiloh, and you must 
contemplate her with wonder and with awe. Do you 
reject the history of her miracles? She is still a mira- 
cle. Her moral law, which, in all her wanderings, she 
never lost; her altars to the true God, which, in all her 
sins, she never suffered to want a whole burnt-offering; 
her ceremonial law, which, for fifteen hundred years, 
and with a hundred trumpet tongues, bore witness to a 
coming Christ; and her glowing hope of deliverance, 
which all her flood of suffering never quenched, are they 
not miracles as great as the divided waters and the trem- 
bling mount? While all the rest of the world is bap- 
tized in lust and blood, and shrouded in darkness, "Lo, 
Israel, like a sea of mingled glass and fire reflecting the 
face of God, and radiating the beams of truth, and bearing 
up thousands that have gotten the victory over the beast, 
and over his image, and over the number of his name, 
having the harps of God and singing the song of Moses, 
the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, 
* Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; 
just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints/ ;; When 



92 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

you contemplate this moral sea, standing fifteen hundred 
years to give birth to Jesus, are you not prepared, as 
the God-man lifts his calm head above the billows, to 
hail him ? u Who shall not fear thee, Lord, and glo- 
rify thy name ?" 

6. Nor should skepticism forget that the period which 
produced our Savior had a miraculous stamp. The Ro- 
man legions, having tramped a highway through the na- 
tions, from utmost Thule to Asia's most distant plains, 
had deployed to survey a conquered world reposing in the 
arms of peace. An expectation of a remarkable person- 
age pervaded all nations; the harp of the Jews was taken 
from the willows to sing of his approach, and the sweet- 
est lyre of the pagan world echoed Isaiah's prophetic 
strain. Eastern magi, carrying gold, and frankincense, 
and myrrh, came to Jerusalem in search of the Redeem- 
er's cradle. An orbitless star guided them to the man- 
ger of Bethlehem, while an orchestra of tuneful angels, 
from the " courts of glory," alighted on Judah/s plains to 
charm the listening shepherds with the choral song, 
" Good will to men, on earth peace, and glory to God in 
the highest." Perhaps you say I assume the truth of 
the evangelic story. Not so. All except that which re- 
lates to the angelic choir could be proved from Tacitus, 
Seutonius, Chalcidius, and Virgil. 

The character of an agent always has an influence on 
our belief in alleged wonders performed by him. Sup- 
pose Dr. Franklin had died immediately after bottling 
the lightning, and that there had been no witness of the 
deed but a silly boy, his testimony would have been read- 
ily believed, because the act comports with the character 
and pursuits of the philosopher. Christ descends a path 
of prophecies extending through four thousand years — 
prophecies which have never met and can never meet in 
any other than himself. It is vain to say, with Boling- 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 93 

broke, that Jesus provoked his own suffering and death, 
in order to give his disciples the benefit of an appeal to 
the prophecies; for it were not enough that he should 
procure his own death, he must also plan his lineage, 
and the time, place, and circumstances of his birth. 
"When we see this are we not prepared to listen to the 
evidence of his miraculous conception, resurrection, and 
ascension ? But the inquiry may arise, Is the testimony 
to our Savior's miracles such as would be that of the 
hypothetical case of the Pontiac carpenter? Why not? 
Because of the lapse of time since it was given ? Non- 
sense. On which does the credibility of testimony de- 
pend, on the period of time at which it was given, or the 
ability, honesty, and diligence of the witnesses ? If ex- 
clusively upon the latter circumstances, then as long as 
they can be evinced so long will the testimony be credi- 
ble. The evangelic and apostolic books which the 
Church in the second century had, we have. What 
those books contained then they do now. These propo- 
sitions could easily be established. If lapse of time 
diminish credibility, then would you be less capable of 
believing in the existence of Caesar now than when you 
were a youth, much less capable than was your father in 
his boyhood; so that the belief that Caesar existed, and 
every other historic fact, must sooner or later ooze out 
of the world. Now, the contrary of this is the fact. 
Since the invention of printing, the reformation of relig- 
ion, and the restoration of letters, the progress of science 
and literary research has been perpetually bringing up 
new evidence of old truth; so especially respecting Scrip- 
ture history. 

But you say the Bible has come down through the dark 
ages. True, but not without traces. If you were to 
travel carelessly one hundred miles through a pathless 
forest, we might never be able to follow your tracks; but 



94 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

if you were to blaze your way upon the trees nothing 
would be easier. The Gospel, by the baptism, the eucha- 
rist, and the Sabbath, has blazed its way through from 
the resurrection morning. This leads us to remark, 

7. That skepticism usually overlooks the fact that the 
book which records our Savior's miracles is itself of a 
miraculous character. It has mysterious power. To give 
a people an open Bible is to give them a general illumin- 
ation; for it allures them to deeper and deeper learning 
by the promise of greater and greater capacity of ascer- 
taining the mind of God. Look at the map; England, 
Prussia, and the United States have an open Bible and a 
diffused intelligence. Spain is without a free Bible, and 
her coast without a light-house symbolizes her mind. 
And Africa, rich in the gifts of nature, is poor in knowl- 
edge; she has no open Bible mine. Look at history; 
but on this I do not insist. The Bible, by giving infinite 
breadth and undying energy to motives, promotes inves- 
tigation. Hence, the career of discovery is always in its 
wake; it has pointed the telescope and set up the types 
of Faustus; opened and civilized the new world, and 
renovated and energized the old. It stimulates mind — it 
opens to the soul a garden of eternal spring — it sheds its 
starlight over the unseen and gives us the astronomy of 
the endless future — it spreads, for the baptism of man's 
immortal mind, a blessed bath which, like the ocean, can 
neither be exhausted nor improved, and in which, though 
a babe may safely float, an angel can not wade; but 
neither on this do I insist; for though it proves the util- 
ity of the Bible, it does not conclusively evince its 
authority. I pass to say, it emits heavenly light. It 
reveals God. How came the idea of the Creator in the 
world? not by sense, surely; not by intuition, for unin- 
structed mutes have it not; not by consciousness, for 
that certifies only our own being, faculties, and states; 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 95 

not by reason, or it had never been lost or perverted — 
what reason can discover it can certainly preserve; by 
revelation, then, for there is no other avenue of knowl- 
edge. Mark, too, the form of the idea as it stands 
revealed. Survey the heathen world swarming with 
gods; behold its supreme deity owning a grandfather, 
and in the hight of his power a mere chairman of the 
committee of gods, in which all things are determined 
by majority of votes; see Elysium denied with lust and 
rent with rebellion, and the altars of Moloch and Tiphon 
stained with human blood; then come to the Bible and 
see the one living and true God coming forth from the 
beginning to create the heavens and the earth, and pur- 
suing his voiceless path of justice through eternity, dis- 
posing all things according to his own will, and looking 
down upon his creatures with eyes of purity and heart of 
love. Will you ascribe the darkness of paganism to 
ignorance? But what, Plato ignorant! — of modern sci- 
ence, we grant he was. Turn, then, to modem science. 
With the experience of six thousand years and the 
meridian light of revelation, what new discovery, con- 
cerning God, has she? Does not the Almighty, as he 
sweeps by her hiding-place, still proclaim himself as he 
did to Moses in the' cleft of the rock, "The Lord God, 
merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in 
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands and for- 
giving iniquity, transgression, and sin/' etc. Science 
has ascended the heavens; let her continue her journey 
and extend wider and wider her surveys through eternal 
ages ; never can she lift her thoughts above the God of 
the Bible, or find a spot which his pavilion does not 
cover. On topmost hights, or profoundest depths, or 
remotest wandering of adventurous flight she must still 
say, " Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall 
I flee from thy presence V Herein is mystery. In the 



96 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

world's infancy and idolatry, could uninspired Jewish 
intellect overleap at one bound all the discoveries of infe- 
rior science, and on an eminence unattainable and in a 
light inaccessible, even to a philosophy matured by sixty 
centuries, discourse of sublimest, all-comprehending 
knowledge, in strains unsurpassed and unsurpassable? 

The Bible brings to light the doctrine of immortality; 
although this idea commends itself alike to reason, con- 
science, and heart, we can not suppose that it could be 
discovered by either or all. Socrates, the pride of phi- 
losophy and the boast of Deism, drank the hemlock, 
though with hope, yet without assurance. Look, too, at 
the form of this revealed idea. Cicero spoke of immor- 
tality, but with doubt. Grecian Theists believed in it, 
but it was one in which the soul lost its individuality in 
God as a drop in the ocean. Hindoos look for a future 
life, but it is one of dreamless and eternal slumber. The 
Stoics believed the world would be renewed, but that cor- 
ruption would creep in again, and the same process of 
decay and renewal go on forever. The Bible im- 
mortality is a doubtless one — "I know that my Redeemer 
liveth;" an individual one; a thinking, acting one; a 
social one — heaven is a city echoing the shouts of re- 
deemed thousands; a progressive one — it gives the soul 
the wing that never tires, the eye that never blinks, the 
life that knows no death; it is a righteous one — it presses 
the elements of evil below an impassable gulf; it is a 
humane one — it rolls the stone from the door of the sep- 
ulcher, fills its caverns with light, wakes the sleeping 
dust, and bears it in incorruption, immortality, and glory 
to the heavens; unlike all the dreams of philosophy, this 
doctrine bears the stamp of the divinity. 

The Bible has a mysterious, self-preserving power. 
The rolls of the rabbis bear the same prophetic testimony 
for Christ as the translation of King James; the Gospel 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 97 

of the convent speaks the same denunciation against the 
man of sin as the Gospel of the pulpit. It has a self- 
perpetuating and multiplying power. Infidels have writ- 
ten books : where are they? Where is Porphyry, Julian? 
Fragments of them there are; but we are indebted, even 
for this, to Christian criticism. Where is Hume, Vol- 
taire, Bolingbroke? It requires the world's reprieve to 
bring a copy out of the prison of their darkness. Where 
is the Bible? Wherever there is light — speaking the 
language of heaven in sevenscore and three of the 
tongues of earth, and giving the word of God by forty 
million of voices to five times as many million ears, and 
in tongues spoken by six hundred million of men; and 
having swept its path of storm through all time, it still 
walks triumphant, despite earth's dying malice and hell's 
eternal wrath, and, like the apocalyptic angel, though it 
wraps its mantle of cloud around it, calmly looks out 
upon the world with a face, as it were the sun encircled 
with the rainbow. 

Skepticism generally overlooks the fact that the Church 
which Christ established is miraculous. In her origin, 
her preservation, her spread, her present prospects and 
prospective triumphs, what is she but a miracle ? Where 
is paganism ? Once it was a tree whose hight reached 
unto heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; but 
it hath heard the voice of the watcher, and the holy One 
coming down from heaven and saying, "Hew down the 
tree; and though the stump of the roots thereof are yet 
in the ground and banded with iron and brass, its portion 
is with the beasts." To speak without a figure, pagan- 
ism no more rears the teachers or the conquerors of man- 
kind, but is pervaded with a conviction of its own inani- 
ties and an expectation of a better inheritance. 

Where is Mohammedism — that Apollyon, the echo of 
whose arms was once the terror of the nations? Its spirit 



98 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

has been consumed by its own fires; and though its giant 
frame still lingers, it treads steadily and heavily to the 
grave. 

Where is infidelity? Oft it has risen an image whose 
brightness was excellent, and whose form was terrible; 
but though its head is fine gold, its breast silver, and its 
belly and thighs brass, its feet are but crumbling clay. 
A touch from the stone of truth brings the unmingled 
mass to the ground. Through nearly twenty centuries 
both thrones and dominions of the state, and principali- 
ties and powers of science have combined with the ener- 
gies of the depraved heart to set up Deism in the earth, 
and where is it? Where the continent, the island, the 
cape, the stream, the plantation? where the nation, the 
tongue, the tribe, the kindred, the family over which it 
holds an undisputed sway? Voltaire boasted that he 
could set it up, but his press is now printing Bibles; 
France turned the Christian Church into a harlot's tem- 
ple, but is now fast purifying the altars of Jesus. 

To the Church of the living God under heaven let us 
turn. By preaching " Jesus and the resurrection" she 
changed the religion of the world. Among the Jews she 
encountered the prejudices and passions of a nation 
elated with the hope of a martial deliverer and an earthly 
pre-eminence. Among heathens she contended with the 
arms of a jealous government, the malice of a crafty 
priesthood, the scorn of a proud philosophy, the gods of 
a crowded Pantheon, and the passions of a sinful world; 
yet with nothing but the cross she pushed her path 
through academies, temples, garrisons, and mobs, and La 
less than a generation sowed the whole earth with the 
crimson seed of the Church, and where is she now? Her 
morning hymn goes round the earth with the sun. 
; Twere easy for a vine to take root in an unoccupied soil — 
easy for it to grow if first with ax and plow you prepare 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 99 

the way; but see that plant dropped in thickest woods — it 
plunges down its root and sends up its stalk, the under- 
brush gives way before it, oaks and cedars are uprooted 
by its advance till the whole forest disappears and blooms 
as the garden of the Lord; meanwhile the boar of the 
wood whets his tusk upon its roots, the wild ass of the 
wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure, 
lifts up her heel against its trunk, the wild beast of the 
field tears in anger its branches, lightnings play about it, 
and earthquakes rumble beneath it; but its shadow cov- 
ers the hills, and its boughs are like the goodly cedars, 
and still it sends out its boughs to the sea and its branches 
to the river; its fruit becomes more and more precious, 
and its leaves more and more healing to the nations in 
proportion to their capacity to appreciate its virtues. 
Such a plant is the Church of God. 

Skepticism generally overlooks the fact that they who 
predicted, and they who first preached Christ, wrought 
miracles. Bring all these things into one view, that the 
miracles of our Savior were numerous, instantaneous, 
public, sensible, or moral, independent of second causes, 
and commemorated by monuments set up and ceremonies 
instituted at the time of their performance, which have 
since been constantly observed — that Christ himself was 
a miraculous character, the subject of prophecy relative 
to his nature, period, birth, life, death, resurrection, and 
moral triumphs — that the Church founded by him is 
miraculous in her origin, preservation, and progress, and 
you have not yet the full strength of the case. Suppose 
you have witnesses in the court ready to testify to the 
resurrection of the carpenter we have imagined, and that 
before they utter a word, according to his promise, the 
sound of a mighty rushing wind is heard and fills the 
house; that cloven tongues, as of fire, seat themselves on 
their heads, and that, though they are ignorant men, 



100 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

each of their hearers, whether Frenchman, German, Ital- 
ian, or American, hears them speak in his own tongue 
the wonderful evidence; suppose that, as these witnesses 
disperse, one heals by a word a man lame from his birth, 
another by a volition strikes an opposer blind, a third 
breathes life into a corpse that has fallen on the pave- 
ment — would you, could you doubt? Do you say, give us 
such testimony and we will believe you? We have bet- 
ter. It is reasonable to suppose that he who gives a reve- 
lation should attest it by supernatural evidence, both to 
cotemporaries and succeeding ages — physical miracles are 
suited to the former purpose, intellectual miracles or 
prophecies to the latter. God has drawn a belt of proph- 
ecies around the globe of time, so that man, by looking 
up from any point of it, might see a celestial sign of the 
divinity of the cross. What is the sign in this day and 
hour? you inquire. There are many; one only need be 
named. Moses predicted Christ; was he a true prophet? 
In Deuteronomy we have a prediction concerning the 
Jews, from which we extract these words: "Ye shall be 
plucked from the land whither thou goest to possess it, 
and the Lord shall scatter thee among all nations from 
one end of the earth even to the other. And thou shalt 
become an astonishment, and a proverb, and a by-word, 
among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee. 1 ' 
Mark, the language is literal, the prediction whence it is 
taken declaredly prophetic, the priority of it to the event 
by twenty centuries, beyond all question, the fulfillment 
accurate, wonderful, visible. Can it be accounted for 
without inspiration? Was it a shrewd guess? Could 
Moses know positively that the victorious Jews could be 
conquered; negatively, that they would not be merely re- 
duced to subjection, but deprived of the land of which 
they were to take possession; nor merely so, but deprived 
by violence: that they should not be colonized, but scat- 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 101 

tered — not merely scattered, but scattered from one end 
of the earth to the other; that they should be a proverb, 
astonishment, etc., not merely among Christians, but 
ans and Mohammedans; that they should neither in- 
corporate with any other people nor utterly perish, though 
petually persecuted; that their dispersion should be 
protracted through centuries? Will the prophecy be 
ribed to accident? Strange accident that it should 
happen to be connected with other fulfilled prophecies, 
and should find its place in the Bible, and contribute to 
establish the divinity of Messiah ! Strange, not only in 
its connections, but in itself, as though a rain of blood 
should fall upon the bosom of the sea in obedience to a 
prophet's word spoken centuries before, and that the red 
drops should float upon the billows ages on ages, never 
absorbed by the air, nor washed to the shore, nor mingled 
with the waters ! Are you not startled ? Then it is for 
the reason that you are not startled by that glorious Sun. 
And why this obstinate resistance to the proof of our 
Savior's miracles ? Is there any thing incredible in the 
revelation which they attest ? They who think so must 
look for Christianity where it is not, and shut their eyes 
upon it where it is. What is the primal, central, final, 
comprehensive truth of the Gospel? "God so loved the 
world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting 
life." Look out upon this beautiful world; look inward 
upon your aspiring soul; look upward into this deep blue 
universe, the shadow of God; listen to its utterances by 
day or by night, then say if this grand truth is unworthy 
of thine almighty Father. To reveal a scheme for the 
preservation of health, the prolongation of life, the dif- 
fusion of incalculable blessings on all paths and abodes, 
the elevation of the whole family of man in wisdom^ 
wealth, and honor were not unworthy of God; but what 



102 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

is all this to a deliverance both from sin and perdition, 
and the opening of heaven's gates to human footsteps? 
Do you deny the necessity of redemption ; that is, the fall 
of man ? This is the doctrine of reason ; ay, of experience. 
It is written on every volcano, breathed in every tempest 
and every pestilence, and proclaimed in all the sorrow, and 
disappointments, and diseases that attend us to the tomb. 
The sages of antiquity, which Deism venerates, thought 
it too obvious to be proved, and wasted their ingenuity in 
attempting to account for it. Do you see a better method 
of redemption than the Gospel? What is it? Repent- 
ance carried to reformation? Ask Providence, Does re- 
pentance, though followed by reformation, renovate the 
broken constitution of the inebriate, the blasted intellect 
of the glutton, or the ruined fortune of the profligate ? 
Question reason on this point, she will say, to pardon in- 
iquity upon repentance is to remit the penalty of the 
law; that is, to destroy law, to destroy government. 
What says the universal heart of humanity? Every 
temple; every altar crimsoned with a victim's blood; ev- 
ery prayer that cleaves the heavens, proclaims the irre- 
sistible conviction of man, that he is barred from God 
unless he brings more than repentance to the mercy-seat. 
There must be a redemption. Is there aught incredible 
in the Gospel method of achieving it? In this world 
are not being and blessedness bestowed through ap- 
pointed instrumentalities, and is not mercy through me- 
diation ? Why, then, start at a Mediator between God 
and man? Think it not strange, that he who in his 
Providence sends the silent messenger of love to the 
gloomy lanes of vice, and want, and woe, and even bids 
them drop the tear of compassion, and lay the hand of 
mercy on broken-hearted humanity pining in the cell, 
should, in his grace, send the man of sorrows, as the 
agent of his love, into this world of sin and death. Nor 



DISCOURSE ON SKEPTICISM. 103 

be astonished at the Savior's agony. Seemeth it to you 
inconsistent that Jehovah should allow the innocent to 
suffer for the guilty? Look you, he does allow it; yea, 
command it daily. How much less objectionable the 
plan of his grace than that of his providence; for Jesus 
chooses his cross, crying, as he clothes himself in flesh, 
" Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast 
thou prepared me.''' u Lo, I come, (in the volume of the 
book it is written of me,) I delight to do thy will, 
God." Hail, thou Lamb of God ! thy errand is God- 
worthy, thy revelation is glorious, while ten thousand 
times ten thousand angels sing with loud voice, " Worthy 
is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, 
and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and 
blessing." We would shout back from the earth, and the 
seas, and the lakes, saying, " Blessing, and honor, and 
glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb, forever and ever." 



104 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 






If* Ithn0ttarg &vtttt$titt. 

1T7TIAT is it to send the Gospel? It is to send a new 
'* and strong stimulus into the muscles of men; it is 
to increase the productiveness of human labor, for it is 
sooner or later followed by the plow, the compass, the 
light-house, the railroad, the telegraph, the steam-en- 
gine ; it is to husband the resources of man ; it is to in- 
crease the necessaries of life, multiply the conveniences 
of life, and improve the arts of life ; for the Gospel hath 
the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that 
which is to come. 

It is to send a new, and powerful, and permanent im- 
petus into the minds of men; for, sooner or later, to 
send the Gospel is to send the schoolmaster, the alpha- 
bet, the map, the blackboard, the scale which measures 
the heavens, and the balances which weigh the planets; 
it is to send Locke, and Newton, and Milton — philosophy, 
and science, and song in their noblest forms. But, aside 
from this, the Gospel is itself the great stimulus of intel- 
lect — its doctrines, its promises, its revelations expand, 
awaken, energize the soul. 

To send the Gospel is to send liberty. It is a great 
declaration of independence; it is a Divine declaration 
of independence; it is a Divine declaration of human 
independence; it is the Magna Charta of human rights; 
it proclaims the dignity, the equality, the immortality of 
man ; it stands him up in the image of the Creator, the 
child of God, the heir of glory; it points him inward 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 105 

to a tribunal more august than any human bar; it 
points him upward to a higher law, which sweeps the 
compass of the universe; it points him onward to the 
fires of the last day, when, independent of all human 
governments, each man shall stand up to give account of 
himself. Once let a man understand his religious rights, 
and he will soon assert his civil rights; for the major in- 
cludes the minor — the path of civil liberty has always 
been in the rear of religious liberty, and always will be. 

To send the Gospel is to send morality — a perfect rule 
of right — love to God and love to man — a rule which, 
though it might not be discovered by reason, commends 
itself to reason — a perfect motive to obedience, which, 
because it is infinite, can not be exceeded — an encourage- 
ment to a fallen and guilty man to struggle with tempta- 
tion, even the promise of infinite aid. 

To send the Gospel is to send salvation — to close the 
mouth of hell and open the gate of heaven. 

Does not the world need this Gospel? Let us take a 
bird's-eye glance at it. Run your eye northward, toward 
the Polar Sea — you find a belt of land, whose sterile, frozen 
soil symbolizes the moral condition of its inhabitants. 
On the east, with the exception of a few missionary 
spots, the Esquimaux sits in his wintery solitude, un- 
warmed by the beams of grace ; on the west, the Aleutian 
islander reposes in his subterranean abode, unenlightened 
by the rays of the Sun of righteousness; while on the 
broad lakes which lie between, and the streams which 
bear their waters to the sea, the pagan red man rears 
his humble dwelling beneath a cloud that bears no prom- 
ise on its bosom. Come to that belt on which we stand, 
and you find eastward the bright beams of British and 
American civilization; but westward, on the slopes of the 
Rocky Mountains, and on the banks of the rivers which 
bear their melted snows, on the one side, to the Gulf, and, 



106 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

on the other, to the Pacific, wandering tribes of red men, 
without hope and without God in the world; look south- 
ward, round the Gulf, and over the isthmus, and down 
to Cape Horn, and you find mingled with paganism a 
Christianity whose corruptions and imperfections call 
loudly for your aid. Turn to the old world. Here is 
Europe, so long the radiant center of science and relig- 
ion, having thousands of pagans on one border, and 
millions of Mohammedans upon another, and scattered 
from side to side three millions of the children of Abra- 
ham, while the Christianity which it presents is, to a 
great extent, paganized. Ascend the Ural Mountains, 
and look down upon Asia, the birthplace of the human 
race, and the birthplace of its Redeemer; the land on 
which the floods descended, and on which the ark re- 
posed ; where the law came down from heaven, and God's 
own temple rose from earth ; where patriarchs walked 
with God, and apostles stood with Christ; the birthplace 
of science, of poetry, and of art; at whose altar-fires the 
Grecian and the Roman lighted their tapers, and from 
whose groves there is still wafted to us the strains that 
left Isaiah's lips of fire, and David's consecrated harp ! 
Do we not owe her something? and is she not worthy 
of our noblest exertions — the land of broad streams and 
cloud-capped mountains, of immense empires and throng- 
ing populations? Be not alarmed at her magnitude. 
The Christian warrior may say, as once the Grecian did, 
in view of Persia's hosts, "Show us not how many the 
enemy are, but where they are !" for the genius of Asia 
is a driveling dotard, the patron of Sabean superstition, 
the father of the false prophet, the nurse of the follies 
of Boodhism, and the absurdities and abominations of the 
Brahminic faith. Look onward to the Pacific islands, 
and you witness the same scenes; turn to Africa, and 
along its northern border, and through its interior, you 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 107 

have Mohammedanism; while, with the exception of a 
few missionary stations on the coast, all else is one black 
cloud of pagan darkness. 

Throughout this field which we have surveyed human- 
ity is sluggish. You find either savagery or barbarism, 
or stationary civilizations — no activity, no accumulation, 
no progress. So mentally; you see either sottish stupid- 
ity, or gross ignorance, or dreams and fictions. There is 
no liberty; every-where you see either anarchy or des- 
potism in their worst forms. Woman, one-half of the 
race, is depressed, degraded, enslaved — here locked up in 
the seraglio, there yoked by the peasant to his plow; 
here bought and sold as a chattel personal, and there de- 
nied access to the table of her husband and the temple 
of the gods. Woman in her ingratitude may complain 
of the Gospel as abridging her liberties ; but let her go 
beyond the limits of Christendom, and she will find that 
she has left her shield. Man also is enslaved. Look 
at that great Indian peninsula, where caste prevails ; and 
what means caste but that the greater part of men must 
be outcasts? The sudras — the laborers — the most nu- 
merous and useful portion of the inhabitants, are denied 
access to the Vedas, the sacred books. He who teaches 
them religion is doomed to hell. Almost every-where in 
paganism we find the population divided into masters 
and slaves, a distinction which I am sorry to say is found 
in some regions of Christendom, but it will not be when 
Christianity is thoroughly Christianized. There is, too, 
no morality worthy of the name — no perfect rule of life, 
no sufficient motive to obedience, no sufficient encourage- 
ment to guilty and fallen man. Every-where we find 
either infanticide or parricide, or man-stealing or man- 
eating, or human sacrifices practiced, not as wrong, but 
as right. Long as the Indian pursues his foe with up- 
lifted tomahawk, crying, "Revenge is sweet!" long as 



108 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

the Mohammedan mingles with the eternal truth, there 
is one God, that eternal falsehood, Mohammed is his 
prophet; long as he sums up the rule of duty in the 
four precepts, "Pray five times a day, looking toward 
Mecca; give alms to the widow and orphan; eat no meat 
by daytime during the fast of the Ramadan, and make 
the pilgrimage of the Cahaba ;; — precepts which the 
vilest villain on earth may scrupulously perform ; long as 
to his excited imagination the most beautiful houris 
stretch their arms for the most bloody warriors, and the 
goodliest gate of glory opens upon the most sanguinary 
plain of earth ; long as the Berber is an habitual thief, 
and the Rind and the Loories are malignant robbers, and 
the Bedouin transmits his hostilities to his children, and 
unoffending family meets unoffending family upon the 
sand, crying, "There is blood between us I" long as the 
Hindoo luxuriates in self-torture as the means of salva- 
tion, and the Chinese mother eagerly thrusts her infant 
to the arms of death, and the Malay lifts his murderous 
cries, and runs his deadly u a much ;" long as the Galla 
arrays himself in entrails, and besmears himself in blood, 
and rushes out to push his incursions in every direction, 
sparing neither age nor sex; long as the Makooas are 
cannibals, and the marts of Africa are crowded with hu- 
man stock, and the altars of Dahomey and Ashantee 
smoke with human victims, so long will I pray the Gos- 
pel may have free course through the earth. 

There is in this field no knowledge of salvation. 
Viewed in any light, the condition of the heathen is suf- 
ficiently alarming. See them in their lust, and blood, 
and darkness. If the harvest is determined by the sow- 
ing, and if the same laws prevail in the next world that 
we find in this, then so sure as there is a resurrection, it 
must be for them a resurrection unto shame and everlast- 
ing contempt. Close, now, the volume of nature, and 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 109 

open the volume of revelation, and you read that God's 
first great law is against idolatry; look upward, and you 
see over the gate of heaven the inscription, "No idola- 
ter can enter;" look downward, and you find around the 
mouth of hell these words: "The nations that forget 
God." I confess I can not take those cheerful views of 
the heathen that some do. I see no other way whereby 
men may be saved than through Jesus. " This is life 
eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
whom thou hast sent." Do you say they will be judged 
by the law written on the heart? Granted. But do 
they not violate this law? Is it possible that obedience 
to a law written by the finger of the true God should 
work out such desolating results as we see in the pagan 
world ? Does not the apostle Paul conclude that the 
heathen are without excuse, because that when they 
knew God they glorified him not as God, but became 
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was 
darkened ? 

But we are not left to infer our duty. We have but to 
open the New Testament, and we read the great commis- 
sion, " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to 
every creature;" a command accompanied by the promise, 
"Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the 
world," and illustrated by the closing words of the sacred 
canon, " And the Spirit and the bride say, Come, and let 
him that is athirst come," etc. But the Christian need 
not open his book; let him but open his heart, and he 
will find his commission. The first drop of grace let fall 
upon a human heart makes it a witnessing heart ; it cries 
out, "Draw near, all ye that love God, and I will tell you 
what he hath done for my soul;" and the next drop 
makes it a missionary heart, crying out, "I have great 
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart for my breth- 
ren, my kinsmen according to the flesh;" and the third 



110 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

drop, methinks, makes it a martyr heart, crying out, "I 
could wish myself accursed from Christ." I could be 
crucified, as was Jesus, if by dying I could lead my fel- 
low-men to God. But the Christian need not open his 
heart; let him but open his mouth, and forth will come 
the proof of his high calling; for he will, if he pray 
according to the Savior's model, say, " Thy kingdom 
come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. " 
He will testify that he is apprehended to emulate the 
angels, to endeavor to spread around the globe the 
happiness, the obedience, and the anthems of the skies. 
The object is desirable — is it practicable? Can we, in 
our own day, evangelize the world ? I answer, yes. 
Look at the history of missions. Modern missions date 
in 1534, when Ignatius Loyola put some of his disciples 
under the vow of poverty and chastity, to consecrate them- 
selves to the conversion of the heathen. The first great 
movement was in 1541, when Xavier, the great apostle 
of the Indies, set sail for the scene of his toils and his 
triumphs. What was the result ? So encouraging that 
the Pope indorsed the enterprise, and engaged the whole 
Church in it. Soon the Indian peninsula, China, and 
the islands beyond, received the Gospel, and a cordon of 
missionary ports was placed in the old world around the 
Levant, and in the new world, from Hudson's Bay to the 
reductions of Paraguay. In the Indies and China there 
was a reaction, but it was of the political element which 
the Church had mingled with the religious. True, the 
ministry was expelled, and I am sorry to say that it was 
not the Gospel, but the missionary that was introduced. 
Still, it was difficult even to expel him; it took fifty years 
of bloody revolution in Japan, while in China and India 
the chapel and the monastery still stand. In the new 
world there has been no reaction. This missionary en- 
ergy of Rome lias been its salvation. If she, with her 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. Ill 

corruptions and disadvantages, can do so much, what 
may not we do ? The Protestant missionary enterprise is 
scarce fifty years old. True, before that, the Dutch, the 
Danes, the Swedes, and the English had missions, and 
Constantinople and London had three missionary socie- 
ties ; but the Church had not educated herself up to the 
great idea of evangelizing the world. No denomination 
in Christendom, if we except the six hundred Moravian 
exiles, had opened its eye upon the duty. 

Since we have commenced with a proper view, what 
have we accomplished ! Although the Church has been 
slow in reaching a conviction of her obligations to the 
world; and although, in the last fifty years, she has prob- 
ably given less than one hundred millions of dollars; al- 
though this year, which has probably been the year of 
her greatest liberality, she gives in America seven hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars, and in Europe about two 
millions, yet what hath she accomplished ! She has 
planted missionary stations in every part of the globe, so 
that the sun in his march around the earth looks down 
upon no half degree from which the voice of prayer does 
not ascend, in the name of Christ, to the gate of heaven. 
She has two hundred and fifty thousand communicants in 
the mission Churches, and two hundred and forty thou- 
sand children and adults in the mission schools; she has 
her presses at work at almost every station ; she has 
translated the Bible into two hundred living languages — 
languages accessible to six hundred millions of earth's 
population. It is as though a warrior who meditated the 
subjugation of the world, had planted his military posts 
in the most advantageous positions round the globe, had 
fortified these posts, had manned them with soldiers, had 
furnished these soldiers with arms, and ammunition, and 
skillful officers, and had planted his Paixan peace-makers 
just where, the moment the spark was applied, they would 



112 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

rake the fields of the foe. "Well, can we not finish the 
work ? Do you say we have not the men, we could not 
fill up the chasm? Suppose we need six hundred thou- 
sand. Well, if Christian Russia can spare more than 
seven hundred thousand soldiers, and Christian France 
five hundred and eighty-one thousand soldiers, one hun- 
dred and thirty thousand seamen, eighty thousand horse- 
men, and one hundred and forty thousand more, and Chris- 
tian England six hundred and seventy men of war, and 
seventeen thousand marines, besides an immense land 
force, from productive labor, to do nothing in time of 
peace but march and countermarch, and form hollow 
squares and long columns, and sham-battle lines, and in 
time of war to fight with the iron of wickedness, can not 
all Christendom furnish six hundred thousand men to 
fight the battles of righteousness ? And observe that 
God seems to be multiplying population in Christendom 
with a view to such a draft, while all heathendom does 
not increase more than about three millions per annum. 
Russia doubles her population every fifty years, and the 
United States every twenty years. Observe again that 
this number would not be wanted long; for the heathen 
when converted would furnish their own ministers. But 
they must be ministers, and we have a scarcity at home; 
where shall we find them? In that great graveyard of 
buried talent, the Church of God. Bring him who 
spoke in the dull, cold ear of death to this spiritual 
sepulcher, and the spiritual Lazaruses will rise and 
say, "Here are we, send us." Look around the world. 
Lo, the harvest of undying souls — for every acre of it, 
sure as there's a God in heaven, he has a laborer on 
earth. " Pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that he would 
send forth laborers into his harvest." 

But the missionaries must be qualified. True, and we 
can furnish qualified men by tens of thousands — men 






THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 113 

better qualified than the apostles, both absolutely and 
relatively. God has for years past been taking the golden 
candlesticks out of the heathen nations and putting them 
into Christian nations, so that they have become the 
great center of the world's illumination; and a man can 
no more be raised in Christendom without being enlight- 
ened, than an angel could be raised amid the lamps of 
heaven without being illuminated. The mere Sabbath 
school scholar, yea, the very slave that knows no letter of 
the alphabet, knows more of God, of man, of human 
duty than did Socrates or Plato. The Church, like God 
when he came to chaos, says, Light; instantly light is over 
every moral and intellectual field. 

The apostles went from an obscure province of the 
Roman dominions and encountered prejudice wherever 
they moved. The modern missionary goes from Britain 
and America, nations whose flags float in every sea, and 
are respected wherever they float. God seems to have 
been taking power from pagan nations and giving it to 
Christian. A few British cannon battered down the 
Chinese wall of centuries — thirty thousand British sol- 
diers keep in subjection one hundred and twenty million 
Hindoo pagans. It is said in the Bible, one shall chase 
a thousand; but here we see one chase four thousand. 
Four hundred and twenty-eight Americans marched in 
and out of Japan; for what Britain can do so can her 
daughter, and the missionary going from either country 
can hold up his head better than ever did Roman in the 
palmiest days of his empire. The apostles preached to 
proud polished Romans — speculative, scornful, and philo- 
sophic Grecians; the modern missionary preaches to such 
as the besotted African or the stupid Hindoo. 

But where shall we obtain the money? The war ex- 
penses of Great Britain alone, during the last fifty years, 

were £1,237,143,931 — a sum which, if put at interest at 

10 



114 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

six per cent., would fiirnisli a missionary for every thou- 
sand inhabitants among the heathen forever. Now, if 
one Christian nation can spend such a principal for the 
destruction of men, can not all Christian nations together 
furnish the interest of it for the salvation of men ? But 
how much money is wanted? Say six hundred mill- 
ion dollars — the estimate is extravagant, but set it down — 
well, fifty million for our share ; double it — one hundred 
millions — well, let each inhabitant pay four dollars, and 
the sum is raised. The last census shows the wealth of 
the country sufficient to give every citizen three hundred 
and fifty-six dollars. Can not each, then, spare four dol- 
lars for the conversion of the world? Suppose, however, 
we rely upon the Church alone. We have say four mill- 
lion communicants; let each pay twenty-five dollars, and 
the sum is raised; and if the wealth of the whole popu- 
lation average three hundred and fifty-six dollars, the 
wealth of the Church must be one thousand dollars per 
member. Let it be observed that God is taking wealth 
out of pagan nations and giving it to Christian. The 
best lands, the most productive mines, the richest com- 
merce, and the most profitable manufactures belong to 
Christendom. The mines of California and Australia 
have just been given to Protestant Christendom, for which 
they seem to have been reserved. The Levant once sup- 
plied Europe with cutlery; now Europe supplies the Le- 
vant. India once manufactured for the west; now the 
British manufacture even India cotton for India. 

Mark, too, that missions are remunerative. Thrust but 
the plow through Africa or Australia, and what untold 
resources would come forth, and whither would they flow, 
but into the bosom of the Christianizing nation? Look 
at the Sandwich Islands, converted by an outlay of eight 
hundred and eighty thousand dollars — scarcely enough to 
build a ship of war and keep it in action a year; now she 



THE MISSIONARY ENTERPRISE. 115 

is the mart of our commerce, and our half-way house to 
China, sending out missionaries at her own expense to 
the regions beyond her. 

Mark, too, that this outlay would not long be required, 
for every year would probably diminish greatly the neces- 
sity of missionaries — congregations would become self- 
supporting. 

Observe, too, that Christians would not have to raise 
their missionary contributions alone; for if the Church 
once resolved to do her duty, infidelity would be silenced, 
indifference would become alarmed, and men would fly to 
the gates of Zion as doves to their windows. 

Observe the facilities which Providence affords us for 
the work. The apostles had to travel on foot and send 
out their missionaries in the same way, or, at best, on 
horseback. We can send missionaries by steam; we can 
supply their wants by steam. In Paul's day the Church 
had to save their copper and silver, and when the contri- 
bution became considerable detail a special messenger 
to travel on foot through difficult roads and over danger- 
ous mountains, often infested by robbers, to convey their 
beneficence. Now, the want of a missionary being made 
known in the metropolis, travels along telegraphic wires 
in no time to every congregation in the land, and the 
contributions of the Church are sent on slips of paper- 
drafts — by the mail, an agency unknown to the apostles — 
traveling at the rate of thirty or forty miles an hour. 
We can travel to the ends of the earth in less than the 
time which Paul required to go from Jerusalem to Rome. 
The British mail goes regularly from Southampton to 
Hong Kong, a distance of 11,500 miles, in fifty-five days. 

There is no telling what energies reside in a man till 
he is tried. Who dreamed that there was power in Alex- 
ander to achieve the conquest of the world ? Yet when 
he set the object before him the power came out of him. 



116 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Who dreamed that there was power in the colonies of 
these United States to contend successfully with the 
colossal might of Great Britain? Yet there was; and 
nothing more was needed to develop it but to set before 
them the magnificent object of national independence. 
Let the Church set before her the glorious enterprise of 
redeeming the earth, and she shall not fail. Let any one 
of this assembly set before himself the glorious object of 
being an apostle of the Gentiles, and, by the grace of 
God, he shall go through the earth as a flaming Paul. 

that we could breathe into you the missionary spirit ! 
Great is the undertaking, but great is the promise. An 
ancient king, on the eve of a battle in which the enemy 
were ten times as numerous as his own troops, went forth, 
in the darkness, among his tents to observe the spirit of 
his men. He found a group murmuring against him, 
comparing their own numbers with those of the opposing 
host, and declaring it madness to meet the foe. Throw- 
ing aside his robe and displaying the insignia of royalty, 
he said, "But how many have you counted me for?'' 
Would you go forth against a world? Sit down and esti- 
mate how many He may be counted for, who has said he 
will be with you alway. 

In reflections of this kind I have often been alarmed. 
An infidel said to me the other day, there is as much in- 
fidelity in the Church as out of it. Alas ! there is much 
reason for the remark. If the Son of man were to come 
to-day, would he find faith on the earth ? If he were to 
come into this assembly, would he find it among us? O 
if there were faith as a grain of mustard-seed, mountains 
would be removed and cast into the sea! Lord, we be- 
lieve, help thou our unbelief. 






MISSIONS REMUNERATIVE. 117 



IHssiflttiS $tmttitmtitot. 

I AM expected to say something of the advantages 
which the Church derives from her missionary opera- 
tions. I begin by saying that missions promote the 
education of the Church. It is a principle in political 
economy that demand is the measure of supply. Mis- 
sions demand disciplined intellect, and disciplined intel- 
lect comes forth for them. Take an illustration. We 
are now at peace with all the world, and we can name but 
few men among us qualified to lead armies. Let war 
break out, and with foemen worthy our steel ; let a neces- 
sity arise, for example, to bear the star-spangled banner 
to Constantinople or Paris, and a patriotic enthusiasm 
would spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific; our sem- 
inaries and colleges would be turned into military acad- 
emies, and a hundred thousand swords would leap from 
the thighs of heroes. So if we widen the mission field 
as we should, and create a demand for one hundred thou- 
sand moral heroes to fight the battles of the Lord, we 
shall have them. 

Missions promote the intelligence of the Church. Let 
a man take an interest in them, and he will read reports 
of their progress ; thus reading, he will find many allu- 
sions to geography, geology, botany, zoology, etc., and 
will find himself allured into these sciences and collat- 
eral ones. Moreover, he will take such papers as the 
Missionary Advocate — full of statistics as any thing I 
know. We may defy a man, a Church, a Sabbath school, 



118 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

to take a deep interest in missionary operations without 
making steady, if not rapid, progress in almost all de- 
partments of useful knowledge. The missionaries have 
thrown light upon the pages of the Bible, as well as 
those of nature. They have translated the word of God 
into two hundred languages, and every time they have 
translated it, they have made every noun, verb, and par- 
ticle, from the beginning of Genesis to the close of the 
Apocalypse, a subject of patient, intense, and prayerful 
study. They have settled some of the most interesting 
problems which have ever engaged the attention of the 
human mind — such as the unity of the human race, 
which they have illustrated by the unity of human lan- 
guages — the universality of depravity, which they have 
illustrated by the identity of mental and moral affinities 
in all parts of the world — the divinity of the Gospel, 
which they have proved by reviving, with its pages, the 
moral miracles of its author. 

Missions tend to silence the enemies of the Church 
We lament that a vast amount of gifted and cultivated 
mind, in the United States, England, and France, is infi- 
del. How is it to be converted ? Not so much by our 
arguments as our lives. Let us show, by our zeal in the 
promulgation of the Gospel in the earth, that we believe 
what we teach. The Papacy is feared by many who look 
upon this great valley as the theater of the great battle 
of modern times. Be it so. How shall we prepare for 
it? Not by supineness, but by sending troops abroad 
and teaching them how to fight, by keeping up the flames 
of holy zeal, by entering into alliances with distant parts 
of the earth ; so shall we have the tactics, the ammuni- 
tion, and the auxiliaries for the occasion. 

Missions relieve the Church of her burdens. The first 
of them is her surplus revenue — a curse, whether in 
Church or state, particularly in the former. It must 



MISSIONS REMUNERATIVE. 119 

neither be hoarded, nor spent sinfully, but spent in mis- 
sions. The last is the only safe outlet sufficiently large. 
If it be hoarded, the Church will be in the situation of a 
horse attached to an overloaded cart ; unable to move. It 
were a mercy to her if a part of the load were taken off, 
even if it were cast into the sea. If her means be spent 
sinfully, her piety will die out. Hence, she must turn 
to her missions for her salvation. She has a burden of 
emotion. Some think this an apathetic age; but it is an 
intensely-excited one. The emotion, however, is pent 
up, and, therefore, corrupted; hence the various forms 
of superstition, enthusiasm, delusion. Let it out in the 
great channel of missionary benevolence, if you would 
prevent its stagnation. 

Another burden of the Church is surplus talent. 
There was a time when enlightened minds were like 
volcanic summits, here and there one lighting up a sea 
of darkness. Now the whole platform of society is 
raised up to a level with the volcanic craters, and the 
flames are spreading all around, as in a prairie on fire. 
Go through the villages, and you find where the Church 
has not sent off colonies, she is not so strong as she was 
five or ten years ago — too many great men — they are 
checkmated. Look over the Church : you find too much 
controversy, too much strife. We have division upon 
division, till Protestantism is rendered almost ridiculous; 
and the end is not yet; there is still agitation, discon- 
tent. New forms of doctrine and discipline must be 
tried. Widen the sphere of action if you would cure 
the evil. 

Allow an illustration. A naval commander found him- 
self at sea, in the midst of a mutiny. He was a gallant 
captain; but his strict discipline and haughty bearing 
had aroused to rebellion some ambitious spirits under his 
command. He received information of the designs and 



120 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

plans of the mutineers in detail, even to the watchword, 
"Buff the cue/' meaning kill the captain. The infor- 
mation was timely, and he might have promptly tried the 
mutineers by drum-head court-martial, and hung them 
one by one at the yard-arm. But he loved his troops, 
even though rebellious, and he thought of a better way. 
Concealing his plans, he gave directions to change the 
course of the vessel. But whither? Not homeward. 
It was a time of war, and he steered for the foe. Soon 
he saw two vessels of the enemy, each superior to his 
own, and promptly placed himself between them ; and when 
the decks were cleared for action, and the marines were 
waiting for the signal, the commander stood before them, 
and pointing on one side and on the other to the cannon's 
opening mouths, and above to their country's honored 
flag, he said, "Now, my boys, I'll teach you how to buff 
the cue !" The mutiny was over, love took the place 
of hatred, the marines knew how to be forgiven, and 
never did sailors fight more nobly or gloriously than they. 
And now the decks are slippery with blood, the cockpits 
groan with the dying, and the shrouds are filled with the 
dead. Ah! that gallant "cue," that moves erect amid 
the storm of battle, is the last thing that the sailor would 
"buff." So when Zion's fleet becomes rebellious let 
her Captain sail her out into the thickest of the 
foe, and she will have work enough without "buffing 
the cue." 

Missions are the only theater upon which can be dis- 
played, at the present day, the power of the Christian 
faith. In Christian countries Christianity is protected, 
sometimes patronized, her temples built, her altars 
planted, her priests paid, from the public purse. Even 
where this is not the case, she is respected. She at- 
tracts to herself wealth, influence, education, integrity, 
all the elements of respectability. She sends to the 



MISSIONS REMUNERATIVE. 121 

forum and the field, the bench and the bar, the halls 
of science and the halls of legislation, their noblest 
ornaments. Hence, she is not opposed, not persecuted. 
I know, indeed, that the world, though an angel of light, 
is still an angel of darkness, that the flesh, though in 
appearance a dove, is in reality a serpent, and that the 
devil, though he has changed his tactics, is not dead, 
nor even sick ; but persecution has ceased to be visible 
in Christendom. We must go abroad to show the full 
power of faith. View the mission field in any aspect 
you please, it is grand. It is a field of discovery. As I 
survey the past with my eye upon the waters, I find noth- 
ing more sublime than Columbus approaching the new 
world, and pacing his deck overwhelmed with emotion, 
while he thinks of the strange consequences of his land- 
ing. The missionary sails to a mental world, which is as 
much a terra incognita to the civilized earth as was this 
continent to Ferdinand and Isabella, and as much more 
sublime than that as mind is superior to matter. The 
consequences of his landing, too, are as much more im- 
portant as eternity exceeds time ; his motives are supe- 
rior. The geographical discoverer is actuated either by 
a desire of fame, as was Columbus, or avarice, as were 
Verrizani and the Cabots, or a thirst for the fountain 
of immortal youth, as was Ponce de Leon, or a hope of 
finding an El Dorado, as was Ferdinand de Soto. The 
missionary renounces goods, and fame, and ease, and 
health, and life, if need be, that he may make the moral 
desert blossom as the rose, and open in its sands the 
fountain of eternal life. View the mission field as one 
of conquest, how grand ! Six hundred Moravian exiles, 
for example, poor and persecuted, resolve to take the 
world. They seize Asia in the center and at its southern 
extremity, Africa at its northern and southern extremities, 
and America at Greenland, South Carolina, and Gruiana. 

11 



122 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

What forces equally small have ever been equally 
aspiring? View it as a field of difficulty and danger. 
See Christian David and the brothers Stach going to 
Greenland, without money or influence; or hope of either, 
without a knowledge of the geography of the country or 
the language of its inhabitants, and even without an in- 
terpreter. They have a fishing-boat, with which they 
support themselves on seals and sea-weed. How are they 
treated ? At first the savages endeavor to allure them to 
their own wanton practices. Failing in this, they visit 
the missionaries with insult and abuse. When they bow 
down to pray, or sing, the savages drown their voices 
with hideous howlings and the beat of drums. As this 
is patiently endured, they stone them, or leap upon their 
backs, and tear their hair, and seize their boat, and 
endeavor to drive it out to sea. What do the brethren ? 
Why, what no warrior ever did. They resolved to " be- 
lieve when nothing was to be seen, and hope when noth- 
ing was to be expected." 

" Fired with a zeal peculiar, they defy 
The rage and rigor of a northern sky, 
And plant successfully sweet Sharon's rose 
On icy fields, amid eternal snows." 

Look at G-nadenhutten. The mission family is at sup- 
per. A barking of dogs arouses them. A brother goes 
to the back door to see what is the matter. The report 
of a gun brings the mission family to their feet. Some 
rush to the front door. A platoon of Indians fire as it 
opens. One missionary drops dead at the threshold. 
His wife and others are wounded by his side. The well 
and wounded rush up stairs and barricade the door with 
bedsteads. The Indians pursuing them, baffled, fire the 
building. A sick woman crawls from a window, and con- 
ceals herself; two brethren leap from the burning roof 
and escape; a third, essaying to do so, is shot and 



MISSIONS REMUNERATIVE. 123 

scalped; the rest are burned. The concealed woman 
looks out upon the scene, and beholds her sister on the 
burning roof, in the attitude of prayer, and hears her 
, in a clear, sweet voice, "'Tis all well, my dear 
nor!" Tell me not of Regulus or Carthaginian tor- 
ments in view of such a scene. 

The missionary enterprise brings scenes of moral 
grandeur to our own doors. Have you seen the mis- 
sionary leave his native land? Then you have thought 
of Paul at Miletus, when, amid the elders of Ephesus, he 
said, "I know that in every city bonds and afflictions 
abide me. But none of these things move me, neither 
count I my life dear, so that I may finish my course with 
joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord 
Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God." You 
have been reminded how the elders fell on the apostle's 
neck, and kissed him, and wept sore, sorrowing most of 
all for the words which he spoke, that they should see his 
face no more. In the weeping group around the depart- 
ing missionary, perhaps there is a mother. It was a 
precious service which that one rendered who anointed 
the Savior's head with precious ointment, and which she 
rendered who washed his feet with her tears, and wiped 
them with the hair' of her head, and which the Marys 
tendered, when they repaired to his sepulcher with 
spices ) but there are Marys in our day who have offered 
that which is more precious than all — their sons. "What 
mother of Maccabees, what mother of Greeks, sending 
her sons to battle, and charging them to bring their 
shields back, or be brought back upon them, what 
mother of Scipios or Gracchi, girding her sons for 
bloody fields, surpasses the mother of Lyman, who, 
when told that her son had fallen in the mission field, 
that he was slain and devoured by cannibals, said, "I 
thank God that he ever gave me such a son, and I would 



124 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

that I had another that I might send to preach Jesus to 
the savages that drank his blood I" The skeptic asks 
us for proof that our faith has power; and well he may; 
for other things have power. Sensuality has power — eat- 
ing out a man's fortune, and reputation, and happiness, 
and vitals, and even moral and mental faculties. Avarice 
has power — often pressing a man till it gets him into 
the hardest possible state and the narrowest possible 
compass of a man. Ambition has power — often leading 
a man over the Pyrenees, and the Alps, and the Apen- 
nines, and the Rhine, and the Hhone — the ancient 
barriers of nations — plunging him into a sea of slaugh- 
ter, to swim in blood till he sinks beneath the wave. 
Liberty has power now and then — building a tomb in 
some new Thermopylae, or rushing upon destruction at 
some new Marathon, or reviving the serried lines of 
Platea, or renewing the sea-fight of Salamis. Well, 
religion has a power that excelleth. We might point to 
that cloud of witnesses who, through faith, subdued 
kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, 
stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of 
fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness 
were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight 
the armies of the aliens; women received their dead, 
raised to life, and others were tortured, not accepting 
deliverance, and others had trials of cruel mockings and 
scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments. 
But the skeptic has not faith to see these worthies. 
Well, the history of missions gives us an appendix to the 
eleventh chapter of the Hebrews, and renews the cloud 
both of dving and living witnesses. 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 125 



tist as a ®m||tr. 

FIRST. He is a popular teacher. He attracted the 
masses. Although he was without folly, without art, 
without depravity, in a world of frivolity, and deceit, and 
wickedness; although he appealed to no interest, or pas- 
sion, or prejudice, but set his pupils, as their first lesson, 
to solve the hard problem of poverty, shame, and perse- 
cution for the truth, yet men in throngs press after him : 
in the streets and in the temple, in the city and in the 
wilderness, a sea of excited human heads dashes about 
him. Scarce can he eat, or drink, or sleep without ob- 
servation. Now the roof is open above him to let down 
a suffering sinner to his sight, and now a vessel is an- 
chored at his feet that he may escape the pressure of the 
crowd that arises around him on the land. Now he as- 
cends a mountain that he may look down upon the up- 
turned faces below him, and now he must hide himself 
in the darkness and in the thicket to have an hour of 
private prayer. It is only occasionally that any man can 
get a crowd. No man can hold it long: the multitude, 
after hearing once or twice, lose their curiosity. When 
Socrates taught, a few young men only were enchanted 
by his voice ; and when Plato lectured at the Pyreus, the 
people, though they ran together to hear him, left him 
as rapidly as they collected. Jesus not only gathered the 
masses from city and watch-tower, from palace and cot, 
but kept them around him till he died. "At the begin- 
ning of his ministry great multitudes followed him from 



126 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and 
from Judea, and from beyond Jordan;" and when he 
closed it, the multitude spread their garments and palm 
branches beneath his triumphant feet, and shouted him 
through the streets of the city. Even while he hangs 
dying on the cross, all Calvary is alive around him. 
What is the secret of his popularity? 

1. His doctrines are popular. The earth has produced 
many great and good men, but where is one whose words 
are so broad as those of Christ ? The words of an Alex- 
ander may move armies; the words of Jesus move hearts. 
The words of a Demosthenes may move a nation; the 
words of Jesus move the world. An Aristotle may sway 
the human mind for ages, but he must erelong drop the 
scepter. Christ extends his moral dominion with every 
revolving year. The words of Zoroaster, Confucius, Mo- 
hammed, abide not the light; the words of Christ make 
light, and make it more and more abound. Scott, Bax- 
ter, Byron, can move only a particular frame of mind 
and tone of heart; the Savior reaches the mind in all its 
frames, the heart in all its tones. Every principle he 
announces has a world-wide sweep. Mark his summary 
of the law: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy mind," etc. — a precept so narrow as to measure the 
smallest thought of the smallest man; so broad as to 
compass the mightiest outgoings of the largest angel; so 
perfect as to bind all moral beings to the throne of God, 
and produce eternal and universal harmony, and happi- 
ness, and progress. Mark, too, his revelation of God: 
"God so loved the world," etc. Neither the element — 
love; nor the measure — the gift of his "only begotten ;" 
nor the purpose — the "whosoever" — can be exceeded 
even in conception. 

2. His style is popular. He that would teach the peo- 
ple must condescend to speak as they speak. Christ's 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 127 

style is either dialogistic, as when he would confound his 
foes; or allegorical, when he would reprove the captious; 
or metaphorical, when he would instruct the inquiring — 
just the style of that great Grecian sage who sought to 
bring down philosophy from heaven to earth. He always 
teaches. In the field and in the highway, in the tumult 
and in the solitude, walking and resting, seated at meals 
or reposing on the mountains, he is, concerning things 
both temporal and eternal, "a living epistle, known and 
read of all men." He flies through all the scenes, and 
employments, and trials of life, scattering " apples of 
gold in pictures of silver." He so associates truth with 
the heavens and the earth as to make every thing a me- 
morial of duty, a remembrancer of truth, or a reprover 
of sin. He charges the delighted babe drinking at the 
fountain of the breast, with the message to its happy 
mother of "Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the 
word of God and keep it." He hath taught the hammer 
to echo to the ear of the laborer in every stroke the 
admonition, "Labor not for the meat that perisheth." 
Who doth not drink water? Well, over every fountain 
and flood Christ hath poured this crystal stream of truth, 
"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, 
but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give 
him shall never thirst." Who hath not lifted up his 
eyes to that glorious sun? Well, in his bosom Christ 
hath set this eternal truth, "I am the light of the world. " 
Who hath not felt the night closing around him? Well, 
Jesus hath written on all its curtains this luminous line, 
" The night cometh when no man can work." Who hath 
not had his thoughts carried down to the chambers of 
death? Well, there is a voice from the sepulcher, "I 
am the resurrection and the life." Thus Christ touches 
almost every object in nature; and whatever he touches, 
though it be but a lily or a sparrow, forth leaps a living 



128 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

truth. With simplicity Jesus blends majesty. When he 
states a precept, it is as though he had planted a new 
rock on the earth. When he utters a doctrine, it is as 
though he hung a new star in heaven. 

8. Jesus is popular in his sympathies. Teachers often 
make distinctions among their pupils. Thus Aristotle 
confined his attention to Alexander because he was Phil- 
ip's son, and Plato left the Academy that he might in- 
struct Dionysius ; but Christ, like his Father, is " no re- 
specter of persons." He looks at man as man ; he pier- 
ces through parentage, and rank, and wealth, and fame, 
and genius, and power on the one hand, and through 
shame, and toil, and ignorance, and suffering, and rags 
on the other, to the simple spirit; and when he finds it, 
he estimates it by its character and qualifications, all that 
constitutes its manhood — its capacity to be angel or devil 
forever. Whether he treads the highest or lowest walks 
of life, he stands upon the same platform ; whether he is 
surrounded by beggars or princes, he speaks as to the 
same brotherhood. While he pays due attention to Nic- 
odemus, and the centurion, and Joseph, of Arimathea, 
he is wont to turn from the palace to the hut, to gather 
around him the children of want and sorrow, to move in 
light and mercy amidst blinded minds and bleeding 
hearts — not because of his partiality, but of their neces- 
sities. With a godlike spirit he stooped to children ; 
with kingly condescension he ate at the tables of the 
poor. Without sympathy with sin, and as a shepherd 
goes into the wilderness to seek and to save the lost, he 
preached to publicans and harlots. Not with the rude 
elbow of stoical indifference, but with the soft hand of 
life-giving love, he touched the coffin and the couch. In 
all this there is a peculiar beauty and propriety. Behold 
poor Bunyan in his prison, as his children have gathered 
around him ! to which does his heart most strongly turn ? 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 129 

to his poor, pale, blind daughter; and now as they bid 
him farewell, see how he grasps the hand of the helpless 
one, and detains her after the rest have gone, and pours 
over her his most earnest, agonizing prayer! Now, had 
the Father of mercies come down to that family, would 
he not, also, have shown most pity and tenderness to his 
less one? Even so when he did come to this world 
in the person of the blessed Jesus. 

Christ was a teacher democratic in the largest and best 
sense — for the people, for all the people, for even the 
lowest of the people, for all the people alike. If he had 
not been, our hearts would have turned from him as be- 
ing unworthy to represent the Being who lighted up that 
sun, and poured the oceans from his urn. 

Second. Christ was a humble teacher. His spirit is 
one of meekness and lowliness. Let us beware of mis- 
take here. These qualities may be passive; if so, they 
are infirmities ; they are incompatible with decision, dig- 
nity, energy — with highest manhood. In Christ they are 
active. His answers are soft, because he chooses that the 
words which might burst from his lips, like the rebukes 
of Sinai, should distill as the dew of Hermon; his re- 
proofs are gentle, not because they want force, but be- 
cause they enter the heart obliquely; his censures are 
mild, not for lack of power, but for abundance of love; 
his manners are affable, not because he is fearful, or un- 
steady, or dependent, but because, while he holds the 
keys of death and hell, he wills, by bearing injuries, and 
reproaches, and persecutions, and crucifixion with a for- 
giving temper, to set revengeful man an example. He is 
humble, not because of his fallibility, but because he 
would correct the arrogance of fallible man ; he is mod- 
est, not because he undervalues his own qualifications, 
but because man overvalues his; he was lowly, not be- 
cause his mind was not set on high, but that he might 



130 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

teach us how, while we pour heavenly music on the skies, 
we may dwell upon the ground. On suitable occasions, 
when mild reproof had been neglected, he stands up like 
fire and breathes like famine. In his dilemmas there was 
a caustic that burned scribes and Pharisees to the quick; 
in his hand there was a scourge before which the defilers 
of the temple fled; in his parables there played a hidden 
lightning which erelong rent every tower and palace in 
Jerusalem ; yet his prevailing manner how gentle ! how 
sweet ! To those who listen to learn he gives, with un- 
tiring patience, line upon line, and precept upon precept. 
In the wayside he halts to welcome the softest voice of 
supplicating sorrow. When he delivers his farewell to 
his disciples, we see how he would " gather his children 
together as a hen gathereth her brood under her wing." 
When the disciple that had denied him with oaths and 
cursing, stood trembling in his presence, and he says, 
" Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?" 
we learn what that meaneth, "He will not break the 
bruised reed." Though Christ suffered even to the 
cross, he acted — ah, how gloriously ! He touched all the 
realms of nature, and they felt him ! they feel him now. 
Though he went down to the sepulcher, he ascended the 
skies, and bade his disciples follow him to heaven. 
Though he owned no foot of land, "he gave notice of his 
coming conquest of the world. 

The themes of Christ evince his humility. Had he 
opened the veins of silver, or formed the philosopher's 
stone, or invented the elixir of mortal life ; had he 
pointed to the compass, or the steam-engine, or the 
press; had he exhibited the imposing spectacle of his- 
tory, or lifted the vail from the invisible world, how 
would warriors, philosophers, and monarchs have tracked 
his footsteps to lay their honors at his feet ! True, his 
mind moves through all nature as though he were fa- 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 131 

miliar with its laws, and he not only makes no mistakes 
concerning them, but flashes beams of light across them 
which the intellect of man requires ages of study to ap- 
preciate ; but he does not teach science, not because he 
could not, but because man could. Jesus, however, has 
no jealousy of philosophy; he never condemns it; he 
often, indeed, entices man to nature, and would have him 
linger over its precious wells. He has no prejudice 
against books. This well, too, is deep, and he leaves it, 
not because he has no bucket, but because he that would 
draw can make a bucket for himself. He confines his 
attention to moral knowledge — that which the world by 
wisdom could not know. But though his themes are 
most novel, most elevated, most satisfying, yet the 
blinded and depraved world concentrates all its con- 
tempt upon them. 

The pretensions of Christ are humble. True, he says, 
"I and the Father are one;" and yet it required the 
greatest humility to make such a pretension. If a man 
even profess that (rod has forgiven his sins and made 
him his child, he is branded as an enthusiast; he is 
watched, and hated, and, if opportunity serve, pierced. 
How much philosophy has cried against Jesus, "He hath 
a devil and is mad !" No wonder the mob took up stones 
to stone him; no wonder the Sanhedrim could not rest 
till they led him to Calvary. But we see not yet the 
depth of his humility. In the passage quoted he speaks 
of the divinity within him ; in others he speaks of his 
humanity as contradistinguished from it. "I can of 
mine own self do nothing;" instead of setting up his 
human reason as a God, he brings it to naught. It is 
not in figurative, but in literal language; not merely in 
one, but in many forms that he ascribes his teaching to 
another, even the Father. "My doctrine is not mine." 
It is not to God, as the Creator, that he ascribes his doc- 



132 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

trines, as though he would remind us that intellect is 
of God; but to G-od, as the Revealer, that he attributes 
his plans, his doctrines, his very words. He who touched 
all nature as God, who brought life and immortality to 
light, and opened a fountain of mercy for all lands and 
all times, says, nothing of my wisdom has welled up 
from my own soul — it hath all come down from the 
Father of lights. 

Third. Christ is an independent teacher. It is a pretty 
speculation of philosophy that every great man is either 
an embodiment of the genius of his own age, or a happy 
anticipation of the next. According to this theory, the 
race, like the individual, is progressive, and its great 
minds are the marks of its successive stages of advance- 
ment. Bacon, for example, did but give visibility to the 
great thoughts that had been gathering over the civilized 
world ages before he arose ; Newton did but catch the 
apple which his times had already ripened ; and Wash- 
ington was but a manifestation of the spirit that had 
long rushed through the quickened veins and breathed 
through the dilated nostrils of his ancestors. As in the 
distant spaces of creation a new world is the mere con- 
densation of floating nebulae, so in the regions of mind. 
But Jesus stands alone — the embodiment of no age, the 
anticipation of none ; though he lived two thousand years 
ago, he is ten thousand years ahead. His character has 
been studied age after age, and the more studied the 
more admired. Who hath ever found a fault in it? His 
enemies have sought for one as for hid treasures, but in 
vain. And yet, if it were there, it would be as a mount- 
ain in a plain — conspicuous from all points. His friends 
have endeavored to equal it, but no one has succeeded. 
It is more than primitive innocence and goodness. 
Though visible on earth, its place is far in heaven 5 
and, to see it, you must look through a long colonnade 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 133 

of celestial light. The truth he brings is not truth in 
blossom or in fruit, but in seed ; not to adorn and wither, 
but to fall into the soul and germinate. Within his 
simplest rule of man's duty are wrapped up the grandest 
principles of God's government; by proverbs and exam- 
ples he sets up guide-boards on all the cross-roads in the 
realm of truth ; in outline he sketches the map of hu- 
man knowledge, and by hints points us to the details ; 
his instructions have been the subject of study for cen- 
turies, and they are still of unexhausted interest — an un- 
iting cruse of oil to feed the fires of mind. In a few 
sentences, such as, " Take no thought what ye shall eat 
and drink/' " When thou doest thine alms, do not sound 
a trumpet before thee;" "Lay not up for yourselves 
treasures on earth ;" " Fear not him which can kill the 
body;" "Ye are the salt of the earth" — he teaches 
the great principles of the subordination of the body to 
the soul, of fame and interest to duty, of the present life 
to that which is to come, of individual to general happi- 
ness, etc. — principles which, philosophers and poets, 
kings and prophets, sought but never found. We may 
develop, and illustrate, and systematize Christ's teach- 
ings, but never go beyond them. The germs of mental 
philosophy, as well as morals, are all in his blessed 
words. Political economy lies wrapped up in his golden 
rule, and all the forms of charity and improvement are 
but streams from the fountain of his law of love. He 
discloses the true principle of reformation. It is doing 
little to point out sin; it is doing little to punish it; it 
is even doing little to prevent it. You may padlock the 
fists, and the feet, and the lips, and yet the murder, and 
the lust, and the lie may be in the man. Back of or- 
gans and nerves in the intentions and principles of the 
living agent is vice or virtue : hence, to make better men 
you must make better hearts. The Spirit of Christ upon 



134 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

the soul, like the warm body of the prophet upon the 
corpse of the child, wakes up the stagnant pulse of spir- 
itual life. In this Christ had no exemplar. 

Jesus is independent of instructors. Few great men 
are self-taught; they generally owe their excellences to 
their opportunities : hence, Philip thanked the gods, not 
so much that they had given him a son as that they had 
given that son an Aristotle. Even the mightiest intel- 
lects are very dependent. Plato, although he had en- 
joyed the tutorship of Socrates, and the companionship 
of Xenophon, goes to Cyrene to listen to Theodorus ; he 
travels to Megara, and sits down, day after day, with 
Euclid to enlarge and settle his mathematical knowl- 
edge; he journeys to Italy and Sicily, to quicken his 
reason and store his memory by conversation with the 
learned — to collect materials of wisdom from primitive 
sources, and inflame his imagination by extraordinary 
natural objects. He compares teacher with teacher, ar- 
gument with argument, system with system, that he may 
correct his errors and enlarge the compass of his truth. 
While communing with the giants of his own times, he 
communes also with them of old; he stands with holy 
awe on the banks of the Nile, till he seems to see Or- 
pheus tune his lyre and Solon light his lamp. It was 
otherwise with Christ. He was not reared at an Athens; 
no Porch, or Academy, or Lyceum opened its gates to his 
footsteps. He was the son of a carpenter, in an obscure 
village of a rural district, in a despised province of the 
world; and when he read the Scriptures to his neigh- 
bors, they said, in astonishment, "How knoweth this 
man letters, never having learned ?*' He travels not be- 
yond the limits of his native land; he is a radiator, not 
a reflector of light. 

He is independent of books; he reads none, he writes 
none, he needs none. He turns every thing around him 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 135 

into books; he makes legible the sympathetic ink with 
which every soul is overwritten. He did but touch Na- 
thaniel's memory, and he brought out the truth, "Thou 
art the King of Israel ;" he did but touch Peter's heart, 
and forth leaped the exclamation, "Thou art the Christ;" 
he did but breathe his dying prayer over the centurion 
that guarded his cross, and out burst the revelation, 
"Truly, this man was the Son of God." It was not 
Christ's words that startled the Samarian woman at the 
well, but her own biography, which he telegraphed to her 
in an instant; it was not what Christ wrote upon the sand, 
but their own quickened consciences which convicted 
those that stood around the adulteress, and made them 
slink away one by one. How much better this unwritten 
knowledge than all written: it is unerring, adapted to 
each case. It was an experiment of modern times to re- 
store a sick body by transfusing the blood of a healthy 
one into its veins; but it was unsuccessful, because the 
transfused current was not in a proper relation to the 
vessels which received it; it irritated and bloated the 
sinking system. Too much of our learning is of this 
kind — a transfusion of thought into channels unadapted 
to it, which only vitiates and puffs them up. The sick 
soul, like the sick .body, must restore itself; its vital 
organs must be aroused to vigorous action before its 
streams can be enriched and purified. Of Wesley it is 
said, that he was the quiescence of turbulence ; calm 
himself, he set every thing around him in motion. He 
learned this lesson of his Master, who, wherever he 
moved, set the world on fire. But how did he do it ? by 
kindling a furnace in himself and radiating the heat 
around him? Nay; but by touching the heart and 
quickening the pulses of men; the heat which he kin- 
dled within them was vital — the more they ran from it 
the more it flamed; it fed upon their thoughts, and was 



136 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

fanned by their emotions; it was a part of them ; they 
feel it now ; they will feel it ever. The word of Christ 
resting upon the moral world is like the spirit that 
brooded over chaos — it makes all life and motion, but to 
each its own life and its own motion, while all is beau- 
tiful and all is good. Some men seem to think that 
their capacity to teach depends upon the number and 
size of the books which they master. Enoch, Noah, 
Abraham were teachers — world teachers — before there 
were books. The heavens and the earth are full of 
truth; it shines down and leaps upon all men alike. 0, 
that our eyes were couched to see it ! The human soul 
is pregnant with truth; let it be but delivered of its 
burdens, and it will have a family of living children, 
whose cherub faces will fill the spiritual house with 
light. The greatest of ancient teachers said that he 
was but a moral midwife, aiding the youth to bring forth 
their ideas and sentiments, and to distinguish between 
the abortive and the living birth. Alas ! the births 
were too often dead. The Spirit of Christ overshadows 
the soul as the power of the Highest rested upon his 
mother, Mary, to quicken the holy things within, that 
they may come forth " sons of God." 

Teachers are too much afraid to try this plan. They 
seem to think that all the truth of the universe has been 
gathered. Earth has golden mines of knowledge yet 
unopened in her mountains; as to the sea, the known 
things of her are to the unknown as a few sands of her 
shore to the waters which it encompasses; and as for the 
sky, it is ever opening new worlds to the eyes of men. 
And what shall we say of the spirit ? Are two souls cre- 
ated alike ? Has not God given to each a peculiar power 
and a peculiar treasure? Who shall describe the endless 
variety of beauties which Jesus may open in his gardens 
of grace and glory? Through the demonstrations of in- 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 137 

finite wisdom and power the thinking soul may always 
find fresh paths. 

Wo in this land should be the last to complain of bar- 
renness of mind; for the new world is around us. Alas! 
alas ! we are thrashing over and over again the old world's 
dry straw, instead of thrusting the sickle into the new 
world's green and waving harvest. These cloud-capped 
hills are strewn all over with legends ready to be bound 
into the bundles of Homeric odes and epics. These ven- 
erable woods stand thick with God's own thoughts; they 
leap by us in every deer that crosses our path ; and fall 
upon us in every descending leaf. New forms of human 
love, and sympathy, and sin, and suffering, look out from 
those cabin windows and burning brush-heaps, from yon- 
der canebrakes and the far-off wigwams. We have book- 
teachers enough. 0, for more bookless ones ! 

Jesus is independent of human reason. This is man's 
pride ; yet it is a frail instrument, prone to error and 
swayed by passion — of some use in discerning error, of 
little in discovering truth. For near six thousand years 
man sought, by dint of reason, to discover the origin, and 
essence, and laws of all things, and all that time he was 
demonstrating that he knew nothing. It is impossible to 
exceed the absurdity of philosophy. Nothing so hum- 
bling to the pride of human reason as the history of its 
own achievements. At length we have learned to come 
down from the clouds of speculation, and walk the earth 
as Adam did the garden, waiting for the voice of God. 
We gather truth as a child gathers flowers; we compare 
facts; we group them together; we deduce general prin- 
ciples, and arrange them in systems; and we call this 
science; and so it is — science which God wrote for us 
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons 
of God shouted for joy. (Similar volumes has he written 
in the soul and we may study them, and copy, and test 

12 



138 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

our copies by the echo of the breast.) Man sought also 
by reason to scaffold himself up to God; but his labors 
produced only a blasted and confounded Babel. The 
greatest philosopher of ancient times, as the greatest of 
modern times, was but a negative teacher. Socrates was 
mighty only to the pulling down of strongholds of human 
reason ; he was light only as he revealed the darkness of 
heathen wisdom ; he went through philosophy as the 
angel of death did through Egypt. As Lord Verulam 
sent men to nature for natural knowledge, so Socrates 
bade man look to God for moral knowledge. Jesus comes; 
-he disperses the clouds and darkness which were round 
about God, in nature and in providence, and in the 
Old Testament; he marshals into harmony the stars 
which appeared to cross each other's paths in the skies 
of truth; he opens a path beyond the grave; he lifts the 
curtain from the judgment and the retributions which 
are to follow. All around the horizon of past and future, 
even outward eternally, Jesus floods the mountains with 
light. And yet he reasons not; he speaks not as man, 
with hesitation, with supposition, with argumentation, 
but with authority — an authority to which, while miracles 
certify, the soul itself responds; for, although his reve- 
lations could not be discovered by reason, they commend 
themselves to reason. As face answers to face in water, 
so the truths of Jesus to the heart of man. The light 
which comes millions of miles across the regions of 
space is subject to the same laws as that which issues 
from the candle ; so the light which traverses the spaces 
of revelation from the face of the angel is the same as 
that which shines in the face of the saint. All through 
the New Testament we see the same principles that walk 
the earth walking also the heavens. The Savior's heav- 
en, indeed, is but the maturity of earthly goodness; his 
hell but the ripening of the seeds of sin. Moreover, 



CHRIST AS A TEACHER. 139 

God has put bis witness in the breast, and when Jesus 
hails the soul, that witness leaps within as John leaped 
in the womb of Elizabeth at the salutation of Mary. 

Jesus is independent of circumstances. Great men 
are, to a considerable degree, influenced by the circum- 
stances of their birth, land, education, and station ; like 
the planets, they pursue a path resulting from the centri- 
fugal and centripetal moral forces to which they are sub- 
jected. Christ pursues one which defies all calculation 
of external influences, and of which there is no solution 
but in the throne of God. He takes no counsel, he 
yields to no prejudice; he goes athwart the prejudices 
of all men — of the people, who desired to make him a 
king; of the priests, whose ritual he abolished; of the 
Pharisees, whose hypocrisy he exposed; of the Sadclucees, 
whose infidelity he rebuked; of the Jews, whose spiritual 
walls he crushed; of the Gentiles, on whose idols he 
breathed death. He thwarted all philosophy by his res- 
urrection of the body, and all passion by curbing all un- 
righteousness. He thwarted even the circle of his own 
disciples, who often cried, " This is a hard saying/ 7 and 
many of whom went back, and walked no more with him. 
When he said that he must suffer many things and be 
raised again, one of .the chiefest of his apostles said, in 
confusion and alarm, " Be it far from thee, Lord: this 
shall not be unto thee." Though the multitude rushed 
around him, they did not sustain him any more than the 
billows of the sea sustain a rock. Not only did no party 
support him — all opposed him. Herod and Pontius Pi- 
late, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, com- 
bined to plant the cursed cross. Princes decreed, phi- 
losophers sneered, orators argued, the heathen raged; 
the whole world, in convention, resolved against the holy 
child ; human nature, in rebellious conclave, determines 
rather than receive him to break the bands of Divine 



140 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

law, and cast aside the cords of moral obligation; but 
she imagined in vain; the Lord had her in derision: 
Jesus sat on his holy hill above the rage, as the ark on 
Ararat in the subsiding flood. 

In many respects this character is inimitable, but it 
is a sure and perfect guide. Reader, be popular in your 
views. Your notions must be wrong if they are narrow. 
This universe is not to be measured with a two-foot rule. 
Be popular in your style. If you would be a "will of 
the wisp," you may appear in darkness; but if you would 
be a sun, brush the clouds from your face. Be popular 
in your sympathies; think, feel, pray, with your knees 
upon the round globe. See Africa, a continent of dry 
bones; Asia, a pyramid of moral death; Europe, strug- 
gling in the folds of the serpent, and the isles of the 
sea crying for help. If the supineness of Athens pro- 
duced a Philip, shall not the prostration of a world pro- 
duce a Paul ? 

Be humble. Seek not for the knowledge that puffeth 
up, but for that which edifieth. Never be inflated by 
success; for what hast thou that thou didst not receive? 
Be not wise in your own conceit. Shall the incarnate 
God say, I am nothing; and shall that worm — man — say, 
I am rich? Be independent. God made you; lift up 
your heads among his sons. Think for yourselves. If 
there are books upon the shelf, thank God for them; but 
remember the open leaves of creation and the unbound 
volume of the soul. Dare to speak out. When the 
thoughts burn, let the flames have a flue. What fear 
you? Shall he whose exemplar died upon the cross be 
afraid of sneers, and stripes, and blows? " Strike, but 
hear me I" cried the great Athenian at the battle of Sa- 
lamis. " Kill, but hear me \" let the Christian cry at 
the battle of the world. 



TEMPERANCE. 141 



IN the remarks which follow, I shall confine myself to 
the two following heads, namely: 

1. The danger of our country from intemperance. 

2. The proper security against it. 

1. The danger of our country from intemperance. 

Before proceeding to the immediate topic of discourse, 
I deem it proper to advert to some physiological princi- 
ples, which, though they may appear irrelevant to some, 
and uninteresting to others, will be found by all to have 
a close connection with the sequel. 

Man is compounded of two natures — body and soul; the 
former material, the latter immaterial ) the one a tempo- 
rary fabric, the other an immortal tenant. These two 
elements are mysteriously and intimately united ; and 
the being which they constitute presents a strange com- 
bination, embracing some of the attributes of every being 
in the scale of animated nature; from the parasite of the 
ocean rock, where life is scarce suspected but by the phi- 
losopher, up to the angel that gazes upon the throne, and 
soars into the perfections of Jehovah. 

The body is subjected to the same physical and vital 
laws as those which govern other portions of the animal 
creation. As in all other material fabrics, use is uni- 
formly followed by waste in the human body. Hence the 
necessity of an arrangement for its repair. The animal 
is designed for locomotion ; it can not, therefore, like the 
vegetable, draw up nourishment by means of fixed roots. 



142 MORAL AND R E L I GI XT S ESSAYS. 

The apparatus for its supply must be portable; it is, 
therefore, placed within the being, in an appropriate 
cavity constructed for its accommodation. Unlike the 
arrangement for the nourishment of the vegetable, the 
organism for the sustenance of the animal is not in con- 
stant contact with sources of nutrition. Its food must 
be collected and taken in from without. To indicate the 
want of supplies, and force the being to furnish them, 
man has sensations denominated hunger and thirst. 
These are necessarily strong; were they unheeded, our 
connection with earth would soon be dissolved. Ab- 
sorbed in the pursuits of life, or enraptured with the 
creations of fancy, man might forget to supply the wants 
of his physical system, were not the desires for food and 
drink intensive. God, in the exuberance of his benevo- 
lence, has connected pleasure with the indulgence of 
these appetites. Besides the sensations already alluded 
to, when the system is in want of nourishment, there is a 
general sense of languor, or " malaise" spread over all 
the organs of the body, and extending to every fiber. 
The call of nature for supplies being satisfied, the local 
and general uneasiness is not only removed, but in their 
stead is substituted a local and diffused pleasure. The 
organs all act with increased power, and every little ves- 
sel, and nerve, and fibril, feels a consciousness of in- 
creased life, and comfort, and power. The mind par- 
takes in the enjoyment, and moves and triumphs in the 
assurance of augmented energies. This field of pleasure 
has its limits. God has drawn a line at a certain point, 
and said, "Hitherto shalt thou go, and no farther." If 
we transcend this limit, we suffer the consequences an- 
nexed to the violation of the laws of the physical system, 
and, in addition to this, incur the Divine displeasure. 
The punishment of such a transgression, which flows 
from the operation of physical laws, is twofold, consist- 



TEMPERANCE. 143 

ing, first, of loss, positive and negative, and, secondly, of 
pain and suffering. By the former I mean, first, the 
negation or absence of numerous enjoyments which are 
incompatible with sensuality, and, second, a gradual ex- 
haustion of the susceptibility to pleasure. Our capaci- 
ties of enjoyment are limited, and when any appetite or 
passion crosses its boundaries, it must trespass on and 
despoil the territories of another. Moreover, rampant 
and unrestrained appetites, in consequence of their very 
liberty, grow unsusceptible of the delights of indul- 
gence, ^ 

But in addition to this loss, there are pains and suf- 
ferings inflicted. The following are inevitable results 
from an imprudent indulgence in food : First. Plethora. 
By this I mean repletion, or fullness of blood. The ma- 
terials of its creation being furnished in superabundant 
proportions, and the organs destined for its manufacture 
being unduly excited, this fluid must necessarily be in- 
creased in quantity; its channels are consequently in- 
creased in size, its circulation is accelerated, and hence the 
whole system is rendered liable to inflammatory diseases; 
a class of maladies more acute in their nature, more sud- 
den in their onset, more rapid in their career, and more 
destructive in their effects than any other class in the 
nosology. These effects are more certain in persons of 
the sanguine than in those of other temperaments. In 
the former, acute diseases are the speedy results of ex- 
cess; and they frequently run their course in a few 
hours, and precipitate the foolish victim into the tomb 
ere he is aware of his folly or his danger. In the latter, 
dyspepsia, chorea, convulsions, palpitation of the heart, 
and a host of other chronic maladies, are more likely to 
ensue; and these, though they do not destroy life so sud- 
denly, render it a burden. 

A second evil which results is premature old age 



144 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Man has but a limited amount of vitality assigned him. 
If prudently husbanded, it may keep his frame in motion 
for three-score years and ten; if lavishly employed, it 
will be exhausted long before that time. When we in- 
dulge our appetites in such a degree only as to secure a 
regular and limited action, we prudently expend our vital 
treasure ; if we exceed that degree, we must waste this 
irreparable donation, and that, too, in the ratio of our 
excess. Our principle of life may be compared to a re- 
pository of fuel — our life to a fire fed by this fuel ; now it 
is evident that in proportion as the flames are increased, 
will be the rapidity of the exhaustion of the store. If 
they are gentle and equable, the fuel may last long; if 
they become brilliant, it will soon be consumed. 

A third result will be a preponderance of the physical 
desires — those which we have in common with brutes — 
over the social and intellectual — those which we enjoy 
in common with angels. The perfect health and comfort 
of the body is compatible with a high tone of moral feel- 
ing, as well as a vigorous action of the mind; but go 
above this point, and as you ascend you will find the 
merely animal propensities increased, and, in the same 
ratio, the finer feelings — the social and religious affec- 
tions — blunted. When do we feel most disposed — all 
things concurring — to pure affection and devotional exer- 
cises ? When do we feel the greatest disposition to 
cherish those feelings which unite the family circle, and 
render the domestic hearth the loveliest spot on earth ? 
When do we feel the greatest access in prayer; the 
highest veneration for God; the richest delight in, and 
capacity for his service? I answer, when we have been 
cautious to dispense to the body only that amount of 
nourishment which is requisite to secure its preservation 
and comfort. When do we feel the least disposed to cher- 
ish those affections or perform those duties — all other 



TEMPERANCE. 145 

things being equal? I reply — in the opposite condition 
of the system — we may have affections then, but they 
are those of the brute, not those which bind man to man, 
humanity to God. Hence, he who knows our feeble 
frame has required temperance under every dispensation 
of religion, and has connected abstinence with the re- 
pentance of his people; and hence, too, hell has, in all 
ages, made the means of physical stimulation the prepar- 
atives to deeds of darkness. 

The effect of repletion in destroying the social feelings 
is plainly indicated in Deuteronomy xxi, 18 : "If a man 
have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey 
the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and 
that, when they have chastised him, will not hearken 
unto them; then shall his father and mother lay hold on 
him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and 
unto the gate of his place; and they shall say, This, our 
son, is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our 
voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard." So intimately 
connected were disobedience and sensuality in the mind 
of the Jewish lawgiver, that the proof of the former was, 
with him, conclusive evidence of the latter; and, by a 
statute of his code, it seems that these sins were jointly 
charged upon the delinquent. The most reproachful 
accusation the Jews could bring against our Savior, was, 
that he was gluttonous and a wine-bibber. This was, in 
their minds, a generic charge, embracing in its compre- 
hension all that was evil. The connection between stim- 
ulation and immorality is more than intimated in Exodus 
x, "Woe to thee, land, when thy king is a child, and 
thy princes eat in the morning. Blessed art thou, O 
land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes 
eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness." 
The incompatibility of devotion and sensuality is pointed 
out in the direction of the Savior: "Take heed lest at 

13 



146 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and 
drunkenness, and cares of this life, so that day come 
upon you unawares. " Watch ye, therefore, and pray. 
Tn Romans xiii, 13, the apostle Paul gives this general 
direction : "But put ye on the Lord Jesus, and make no 
provision for the lusts of the flesh." 

The intellectual as well as the moral feelings are im- 
paired by gluttony. Does the experienced orator wish to 
make a display, he will abstain from the pleasures of the 
table. Does he wish to prostrate an antagonist in debate, 
he will rejoice to meet him on returning from a feast. 
Mark the features of him who indulges, unrestrained, 
the desire of stimulation — there is an appearance of fatu- 
ity about them. The reason is obvious— his spirit has an 
apoplexy. You might as well command the palsied limb 
to strike a nervous blow, as the glutton's oppressed soul 
to move with a giant's footstep. As well might you 
attempt to fire a plank beneath the waters as to strike an 
intellectual spark from his eye. It is only when the 
proper limits have been regarded in satisfying the phys- 
ical desires that the genius can make his mighty efforts; 
draw the resources of the body to the aid of the soul; 
warm the cheek, light up the eye, fire the spirit, and 
send it out in flames. There is, indeed, a conflict be- 
tween the desires of the body and those of the soul. 
Philosophy and common sense have agreed in all ages to 
represent virtue under the notion of a warfare. Revela- 
tion unites with reason on this as on other points. He 
who made human nature has, by an inspired apostle, 
declared "that the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and 
the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the 
one to the other/ ' Perhaps you all know the remark of 
Araspes, on being reproached for a crime by his amiable 
sovereign, "0, Cyrus, I am convinced that I have two 
souls — when the good soul rules, I undertake noble ami 



TEMPERANCE. 147 

virtuous actions; but when the bad soul predominates, I 
am forced to do evil." This, though unphilosophical, 
very justly represents the struggle between flesh and 
spirit, pointed out in Revelation; and perhaps the con- 
asnesa of this antagonism within us, rather than any 
reflection upon external nature, is the foundation of the 
belief in the plurality of gods so prevalent among the 
heathen. The desire of physical excitement is the weak 
point of our nature. We pant for happiness, yet we 
shrink from toil. The pleasure derived from the gratifi- 
cation of the physical appetites is obtained without intel- 
lectual effort, while the rich and pure enjoyment derived 
from the culture of our moral and intellectual nature 
requires exertion. Hence we are prone to violate the 
limits prescribed to the former; from which we seek 
the enjoyment that ought to be obtained from the latter. 

The stimulation which we are capable of effecting by 
simple food and drink is not great; for the appetite soon 
fails, and the digestive organs grow weary of their task. 
Man has learned from experience that there is a variety 
of articles which have a tendency to excite the appetite, 
and, at the same time, assist the powers of nature in dis- 
posing of an oppressive burden ; these have been gath- 
ered, and mingled with the materials designed by nature 
for our nourishment. Our list of condiments is a long 
one. We have consulted the experience of all preceding- 
ages to learn what articles are of this nature, and what 
combinations of them will best effect the object of stimu- 
lating the stomach; and, by means of our commerce, we 
secure the contributions of the whole globe at our table. 
The stimulation we can effect by food, even when highly 
sjjiaiL is not so refined or destructive as that effected by 
other means, because it less affects the nervous system, 
in which chiefly reside the powers of life. 

It was early discovered that there are artificial means 



148 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

of exciting the system. Nature furnishes a variety of 
articles which possess this power. Many of them were 
doubtless given for the food of inferior animals, and bear 
such a relation to their systems that, instead of stimula- 
ting, they are digested, and furnish nourishment. 

One class of artificial stimulants is denominated nar- 
cotics, to which belong tobacco, opium, stramonium, etc.; 
these all possess the power of stimulating, though in dif- 
ferent degrees, and each has properties peculiar to it- 
self. They are valuable resources in disease, and, viewed 
as remedial agents, may be regarded as a benefaction to 
our race. The mercy of Heaven is not only manifest in 
their bestowal, but in the fact that they are all of them 
repulsive to the senses. For the sake of their stimulant 
effect, however, we bear with their offensive properties ; 
and, as it is a general law of the animal economy that 
repetition decreases effect, we soon become accustomed to 
them. We should not find fault with this law; for it is 
that by which man has the capacity of adapting himself 
to different climates and pursuits. When the system is 
habituated to preternatural stimulation, it is rendered 
miserable if the stimulus be withdrawn. 

There is another class of stimulants which I may men- 
tion; namely, incitants, the chief of which is alcohol. 
This is the basis of most of those beverages which are 
used to stimulate. It simply incites, without producing 
any modification of the nervous influence; hence it is 
very valuable when the powers of life are sinking from 
disease, and hence, too, the reason why its use is so gen- 
eral and so ancient; for, though alcohol was not discov- 
ered till the tenth century, yet it was used long before 
that period. It is the result of vinous fermentation, one 
of the most simple and common processes performed in 
the laboratory of nature ; and its effects were felt long 
ere the alchemist devised the process for separating it 



TEMPERANCE. 149 

from the other ingredients with which it is usually asso- 
ciated. 

Now, all the effects which have been described as the 
results of excessive stimulation, produced by the natural 
stimuli — food and drink — follow the employment of artifi- 
cial stimulants. Let us recapitulate them. They are, 
first, loss, positive and negative, resulting from the ab- 
sence of other and purer pleasures; and insensibility to 
physical gratification, consequent on constant indulgence. 
Second, punishment, consisting, first, of a predisposition 
to disease, proportionate to the excess, and modified 
in its baneful influences by the constitution, structure, 
temperament, and pursuits of the individual. Here 
allow me to remark that it may, at first sight, appear 
wonderful to the physiologist that the drunkard does not 
speedily die of acute disease, resulting from the excess- 
ive action into which his system is habitually thrown; 
for it is a law of the animal economy that in proportion 
as an organ is exercised, so is it liable to disease. The 
reason is found in this fact, that the artificial stimuli 
furnish no nourishment — nothing to enrich the blood — 
and, in proportion as the appetite for artificial stimuli 
increases, the desire for ordinary food decreases. Na- 
ture, ever provident, manages to diminish the fuel when 
the bellows is applied ; were it not for this, the drunk- 
ard's mortal tenement must soon be wrapped in a general 
flame. 

I return to the recapitulation. The second result I 
mentioned was premature old age. The effect of artifi- 
cial stimulation in hastening dissolution, must be much 
greater than that of natural stimulation, to whatever ex- 
cess it may be carried, because the former acts chiefly 
upon the nervous system, the very citadel of vitality, and 
diminishes the appetite for salutary food. 

The third result is a preponderance of the physical 



150 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

over the moral and religious feelings. When artificial 
stimulants are used, this effect is very strongly marked. 
The physical propensities of the inebriate are all excited, 
and he is little above the level of the brute — and let it 
be remembered that every drop we take produces an ap- 
proximation to that point. Your experience, and the 
history of the past, need only be referred to in proof of 
this position. We can not, however, forbear to intro- 
duce a few quotations from the Scriptures in support of 
it. "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging." "Who 
hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath wounds without 
cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long 
at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine." Proverbs 
xxiii, 29, 30. In his Epistle to the Thessalonians, the 
apostle associates drunkenness with darkness : " They that 
are drunken are drunken in the night" Mark the follow- 
ing collocation of vices: "When we walked in lascivious- 
ness, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and 
abominable idolatries." 

The effects of artificial stimulants upon the moral and 
religious feelings are such as might have been antici- 
pated from the foregoing remarks. They almost obliter- 
ate them. I would not unnecessarily wound the feelings 
of any man; I am especially careful of those of the 
drunkard; of all men he is most deserving of commis- 
eration; for, unless he reform, he has no happiness in this 
life but the pleasures of the brute, and no hope in refer- 
ence to the next, except that which shall perish when 
God taketh away his soul. But truth and humanity 
require me to say what I do speak on this subject. 
The drunkard gradually loses his affection for his father, 
mother, wife, and children, and his veneration for his 
God. I have known him to mangle the partner of his 
bosom, to stagger over the corpse of his child, and look 
into the grave of his mother with a maniac grin. I have 



TEMPERANCE. 151 

heard the culprit, as he held in his hand the rope by 
which he was hung, confess that intemperance had been 
his ruin; and had induced him to split open the head of 
his wife, and deliberately cut the throats of his children. 
The drunkard is an anomaly in creation. There is a feel- 
ing of love for the offspring, which has descended from 
the skies downward, through all the ranks of animated 
beings. There is not a songster that warbles in the 
breeze, not a fish that moves within the deep, not an ani- 
mal that walks the earth, not a beast that prowls the 
rt or the forest, not even the hyena itself excepted, 
that preys upon the tombs, which does not love its off- 
spring, and delight to cherish and protect them. Man 
only, with a heart charred by intemperance, presents the 
strange spectacle of an unfeeling parent. He only can 
hear his young cry for want unmoved, commit them one 
by one to the cold charity of the world, or imbrue his 
hands in their blood. 

The intellect suffers as well as the moral feelings — it 
still acts, but not with vigor. The drunkard may talk, 
but he can not reason — he may be witty, but not pro- 
found — he may grovel, but he can not soar. Indeed, in- 
temperance has blasted the mightiest minds. 

Considering the havoc which it makes with the im- 
mortal part, we need scarce say that it. tends to destroy 
property, reputation, and all that man holds dear; nor 
need we wonder that upon the gates of the New Jerusa- 
lem should be inscribed the awful sentence, " No drunk- 
ard can enter." 

These are the general effects of artificial stimulation — 
they are of course realized in a degree proportionate to 
the excess, and modified by the peculiarities of the stim- 
ulant employed, and the physical and intellectual pecu- 
liarities of the transgressor. 

Destructive as are the consequences of using artificial 



152 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

stimulants, the love of excitement has induced men 
in all ages and countries to employ them. I say the 
love of excitement; for I do not suppose that men have 
a natural appetite for each, or any one article of the nu- 
merous class of stimulants. Perfect health can be en- 
joyed without them, and, indeed, disease is the conse- 
quence of their habitual employment, even in moderate 
quantities; nevertheless, men have a desire for physical 
excitement, and this has led to the use of these articles 
in every period of man's existence. In looking over the 
pages of the world's history, we find no age or nation 
innocent of this crime. Noah, the last patriarch of the 
old, and the first patriarch of the new world, was de- 
graded by intoxication. The companion and nephew of 
the " father of the faithful " was guilty of drunkenness, 
and some of its associate crimes. Intemperance was one 
of the sins of the Israelites. All the great nations of 
antiquity were addicted to it. Babylon was taken while 
she was indulging in a drunken revel. Most of the 
ancient cities were periodically plunged into all the folly 
and debauchery of Bacchanalian orgies. The priests and 
priestesses of ancient oracles and temples, probably per- 
formed their deceptions under the influence of narcotics. 
Almost all the rites of heathen worship were connected 
with inebriation. It is a curious fact that, in proportion 
as man progresses in civilization, does his liability to suf- 
fer from intemperance increase. Many causes may be 
referred to as tending to produce this result. As our 
knowledge is increased, and our dominion over nature 
extended, our catalogue of stimulants and our acquaint- 
ance with their different properties are enlarged, so 
that we are enabled to select the most refined and power- 
ful, and render the object of our choice the more agree- 
able. Moreover, in the savage and barbarous states, in 
which men rely upon fishing and the chase for subsistence, 



TEMPERANCE. 153 

their time is nearly all consumed in seeking the supply of 
their simple and natural wants; whereas, in the civilized 
condition, in which agricultural arts are employed, and the 
soil is made to produce in rich abundance the materials 
of food, the simple necessaries of life are readily obtained, 
and, consequently, a large portion of unoccupied time is 
thrown upon our hands. Our constitution is such, that 
when inactive we are unhappy. A sensation denominated 
wi creeps over us, to remove which we resort to the 
various means of bodily and mental excitement. Hence 
have originated the different species of gaming, theatrical 
performances, and all the amusements and diversions of 
civilized society. Now, indulgence in these requires 
money ; hence, as means to their attainment, wealth and 
power are sought. Here a new train of passions is devel- 
oped, the chief of which are avarice and ambition. By 
these men are led into new scenes of exertion and dan- 
ger, giving rise to new classes of cares and anxieties, and 
calling for more than natural efforts. To alleviate the 
former, and qualify him to sustain the latter, man re- 
sorts to stimulants, which at once blunt the sensibili- 
ties, and arouse to an unnatural pitch the powers of the 
system. 

Though all nations have stimulated, they have not all 
agreed in their selection of stimulants. Different nations 
have been influenced by the nature of their discoveries, 
the peculiarities of their religion, or the productions of 
their soil, in selecting their materials of excitement. 
Thus, the Mohammedan, forbidden the use of wine by 
his Koran, uses opium. In Italy and France, where the 
grape is abundant, wine is used; in Great Britain, beer, 
ale, porter, etc., are the chief articles. The principal 
stimulant of our own country, as you are aware, is whisky, 
an article containing more alcohol in a given quan- 
tity than almost any other that has ever been in common 



154 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

use; and one that has worked more evil to our country 
than any other which can be named. 

The ingenious hearer may inquire, "If it be used mod- 
erately, what is the difference between alcohol in whisky 
and the same, ingredient in wine, cider, etc.?" There 
is a slight difference : in the latter productions its effects 
are modified by the other ingredients of the compound, 
so as to prove less detrimental to health. It may also be 
remarked that different classes of diseases are produced 
by different beverages; thus, wine has a tendency to pro- 
duce diseases of the stomach and joints; beer, porter, 
etc., nervous diseases, as apoplexy, palsy, chorea, etc.; 
whisky affects, more or less, every part of the system, 
but particularly the stomach and liver; and is, more than 
any other article, calculated to produce that frightful 
disease, " delirium tremens. 7 ' I believe it is generally 
observed that wine countries are the most temperate — 
whisky countries the most intemperate. It is a familiar 
and melancholy fact, that foreigners who emigrate from 
certain parts of Europe to our country, after their habits 
have become established, generally become intemperate ; 
the substitution of whisky for the beverages to which, in 
their native land, they were accustomed, operating to 
hasten their destruction. It follows, that of all countries 
we have been the most unfortunate in the selection of 
our stimulants. 

From the foregoing remarks it may be fairly inferred, 
first, that we are all in danger from intemperance. We 
have shown that there is a strong tendency in man to 
seek undue stimulation. It is this desire for excitement 
which has opened so wide the gate to ruin, and crowded 
the way to destruction with such masses of ruined minrf 
and matter. This is the weak point of humanity. Did 
I seek to ruin a soul, and plunge it into hell, I would 
attack it here. Homer, in the twelfth book of the Illiad, 



TEMPERANCE. 155 

represents Hector as endeavoring to force the intrench- 
ruents into which the Greeks had retired. Numerous 
efforts prove unavailing. At length Sarpedon makes a 
broach in the wall. At this point the war henceforth 
rages. Ajax and Teucer rush to the spot. The be- 
siegers are repulsed. They rally and renew the assault. 
The Greeks, in solid phalanx, unite at the breach, and 
the Lycians join and thicken to force their way through. 
Hector, discovering the weak point, rushes to it with the 
fierceness of a whirlwind, fires his host with repeated 
cries, and, with one mighty and combined effort, forces 
his passage. The breach being once passed, the Trojans 
flow in with an uninterrupted current, and the Greeks 
fly, trembling and overwhelmed. When Satan attempted 
to force the intrenchments of the world, he knew the 
weak point. It was at the desire of forbidden physical 
pleasure that he hurled the mysterious weapon. "And 
when the woman saw that it was good for food/' etc., she 
ate, and the work was done. Satan having once entered 
the breach, a troop of vices follow him ; the earth is 
strewed with slain, and the skies rent with tumult. The 
foe has not yet changed his tactics. He attacks the 
nation and the individual at this point now. Secure 
this, and he will find difficulty in breaking through the 
wall; conscience and reason are not so easily forced. 
Let this breach be undefended, and, without assistance 
from Heaven, the battle is over and the victory won. 

I infer, secondly, that we are in peculiar danger as 
men of the nineteenth century. I have shown that as 
men advance in civilization, their danger from intemper- 
ance is increased. Perhaps there never was an age of 
greater intelligence and effort than the present. The 
whole globe is rousing from the lap of slumber, proudly 
bursting the withes with which it had consented to be 
bound, and moving in triumph its giant limbs. It is 



156 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

obtaining a power over nature never before enjoyed, and 
preparing for an exertion never before accomplished ) 
and, as it opens new springs of stimulation, trembles all 
over impatient of exertion, and springs to its lofty enter- 
prises, will not its temptations to stoop down and drink 
at those fountains which, while they pervert, yet develop 
and sustain excitement, be increased ? 

As Americans we are in appalling danger. Our land 
ranks high in point of civilization and science. We are 
not behind any nation in activity, intelligence, or enter- 
prise. Till lately we ranked as high in the scale of in- 
temperance as of science and exertion, and of all nations 
we have selected the worst stimulant. 

I proceed to show the means by which we are to guard 
against the danger we are in. It may be proper to glance 
at the efforts which have been made to effect this object. 
It was not till after the discovery of alcohol that it was 
used in a concentrated form. I attribute its introduction, 
in a great measure, to the influence of an erroneous med- 
ical theory. An eccentric but talented man, Mr. Brown, 
who has been styled the child of genius and misfortune, 
during the early part of the last century, invented a new 
medical theory, which may be represented by a gradu- 
ated scale, on which is inscribed the names of diseases. 
In the center of the scale is health. Above this point 
are diseases of decreased, and below it diseases of in- 
creased action. He taught his students that to cure the 
former stimulants only were necessary, and to cure the 
latter depletion simply was required. They went forth 
armed with the lancet in one hand, and the brandy bottle 
in the other, prepared to cure every disease by using the 
one or applying the other, according as it was located 
above or below the central point on the imaginary scale. 
The captivating simplicity of the Brunonian system, the 
location of the author at one of those fountains whence 






TEMPERANCE. 157 

descend the streams of medical influence throughout the 
civilized world, and the commanding abilities with which 
it was illustrated and defended, secured this theory a 
general reception. Though the doctrines of Brown have 
long been exploded, we see their effects in the common 
of brandy as a medium for the exhibition of medicine, 
as well as in its employment as a beverage. 

The first attempt which was made to dispense with the 
use of distilled spirits was made by Geo. Fox, the founder 
of that temperate, moral, and respectable sect, the 
Friends. His creed, if I mistake not, forbade the use, 
manufacture, or sale of any alcoholic beverage. To this, 
as well as all other preceptive parts of their original creed, 
this body of Christians has faithfully adhered. The 
great Doctor Fothergill, himself a member of that society, 
labored to extend this principle beyond the limits of his 
sect. I recollect an interesting anecdote of this distin- 
guished man. During the prevalence of a certain epi- 
demic, he employed alcoholic stimulants with obvious 
benefit. He gave an account of his treatment to his 
class in a triumphant manner. About a year after, he 
stated to the same class that he was in error when he told 
them of what he had effected by treating the malady. 
He stated that instead of curing the disease he had only 
substituted another in its place, to wit, drunkenness; 
and that he thought it better to let a patient descend to 
the tomb, than to raise him with a habit which would 
render him a pest to himself, to his friends, and to 
society. The next effort was made by Wesley, an orb 
mind of the first magnitude, and the founder of the 
society to which I am attached. One of. his general rules 
forbade the use of spiritous liquors, " except in cases 
of extreme necessity." This rule has been modified by 
American Methodists, who have expunged the word 
"extreme." This great and good divine urged the sub- 



158 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

ject of temperance to his people with all that zeal and 
genuine eloquence by which his labors were eminently 
characterized. The Methodists, I believe, have always 
been regarded as a temperate body, and few of them have 
fallen into the vice of intemperance. This remark is 
more strictly applicable to the Methodists of Wesley's 
time, than to those of our own days, and to those of the 
mother country, than to their American brethren. 

The next great champion in the cause of temperance 
was Doctor Eush. He was a great and a good man ; few 
men have had more genius, none more goodness. He was 
among mankind an oasis in the desert. I would give 
the world for his reputation, for he is immortal; his 
name is as imperishable as English literature, as lasting 
as philanthropy. The sagacity of Eush led him to see 
the evils resulting from intemperance, and his goodness 
induced him to endeavor to suppress them. Accordingly 
he made an address to the public on this subject in a lec- 
ture, written in his usual masterly and eloquent style, 
and recommended an association among the agricultur- 
ists, for the purpose of suppressing the use of ardent 
spirits. He indeed furnished the programme of that 
more enlarged plan, which has been developed so success- 
fully in the present day. 

It was discovered a few years since, by a judicious and 
able philanthropist of New England, that a successful 
plan might be readily adopted for abolishing the evils of 
intemperance in the United States. It consisted in unit- 
ing together all temperate men in the community, in a so- 
ciety, whose members should be pledged to abstain from 
ardent spirits themselves, and, by all honorable means in 
their power, to discontinue its use in society. The proj- 
ect was attempted. Two millions were soon embodied on 
the proposed principle ; two millions more were brought 
practically to adopt it. The statistics of intemperance 



TEMPERANCE. 159 

were published. Information was diffused by means 
of agents, and weekly and quarterly periodicals. Dis- 
cussion was excited in all ranks of the people. In- 
temperance was put to the blush. Hundreds were in- 
duced to banish liquor from their stores — thousands from 
their farms — tens of thousands from their shops. Even 
the ship was taught to mount the ocean wave, and walk 
across the deep without being provided with this element 
of destruction; and the following facts were made to 
glare around the globe : 

1. That the use of ardent spirits is a most prolific 
source of pauperism, disease, and crime. 

2. That it is of no service in health, and rarely in dis- 
ease. 

3. That it is uniformly injurious to both body and 
soul — unless employed medicinally — and leads to the for- 
mation of intemperate habits. 

4. That there is no department of human exertion in 
which it can not be dispensed with. 

5. That the traffic in it is an immorality. 

The reformation soon extended to the continent of 
Europe. It first took root in Belfast through the exer- 
tions of Professor Edgar, of that city. It soon proved 
that, though an exotic, it could flourish in the new soil, 
to which it had been transplanted. From the Emerald 
Isle scions were carried to England and Scotland, which 
grew and bore abundant fruit. Switzerland, in 1830, 
made application for a branch of the parent trunk, and 
Sweden, through her " Royal Swedish Patriotic Society/' 
followed the example. From the European continent 
branches of this evergreen were borne across the deep, 
and planted in Asia, and the islands of the sea. In 
1832 Mr. Brougham, then Lord Chancellor, publicly ac- 
knowledged the obligations of Great Britain to America 
for her temperance principles, and in the same year the 



160 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

style of the London Temperance Society was changed to 
" British and Foreign Temperance Society/' as more in- 
dicative of its extended plan of operations. In 1834 
germs of the reformation sprung up in Russia, South Af- 
rica, and New Holland; meanwhile, in other places 
where its roots had been planted, its branches were ex- 
tended and multiplied. 

This effort to suppress intemperance has been success- 
ful. It has lifted the eyelid of the globe, and darted 
this truth — that intemperance is one of the greatest aux- 
ilaries of hell, upon her naked sight. Having origin- 
ated in America, it was specially designed for our na- 
tion, in which the common means of stimulation was dis- 
tilled spirits. Hence, in other countries, where they have 
adopted our pledge without modification, and where other 
articles were employed as stimulants, it has not effected 
as great an amount of good as might have been accom- 
plished, although the facts and reasonings disseminated 
are applicable to every species of intemperance. 

It has also been proved that in directing our efforts ex- 
clusively against distilled liquor, we have been operating 
upon a basis too narrow for ourselves. Individuals have 
resorted to other means of stimulation after abandoning 
ardent spirits ; wine has been imported in increased 
quantities; and cider, beer, ale, and domestic wines 
have been manufactured in greatly-augmented quantities. 
While we have been solely directing our efforts to one 
quarter, the enemy has been strengthening himself in, 
and assailing us from other quarters. The chief imple- 
ment with which we contend, our moral influence, is 
blunted. The user of ardent spirits says, as we approach 
him, that the only difference between himself and " tem- 
perance men" is this: they use one and he another mem- 
ber of the family of stimulants, while " temperance 
men" themselves have found that, so far as they were 



TEMPERANCE. 161 

concerned, the reformation was insufficient; and that, 
from the milder beverages, they were in danger of con- 
tracting habits of intemperance, which, however formed, 
constitute the drunkard. 

History is a valuable source of instruction; experience 
is the greatest teacher; let us profit by consulting the 
history of the past. From the brief review I have 
taken I have deduced the following conclusions : 

1. In the accomplishment of the temperance reforma- 
tion, united, systematic, and persevering effort is de- 
manded. In union there is strength; we avail ourselves 
of it in every department of physical exertion ; the agri- 
culturist, the mechanic, the warrior, and the capitalist 

I unite the strength of many to carry out their mighty 

, plans. Union is as requisite in moral, as in physical or 
commercial enterprises. Hence, though good men la- 

I bored single handed to put down intemperance, in former 
ages, they accomplished but slender triumphs; and when- 

I ever combined efforts were made by the friends of tem- 
perance, they fairly shook the globe in their onward 
march. 

2. If we would perfect the temperance reformation in 
our own country, or extend it around the world, we must 
strike, not at the species only, but at the whole class of in- 
toxicating articles. 

Milton describes a battle in heaven between Michael 
| and his angels and the devil and his host. The oppos- 
ing armies meet in awful conflict — flaming swords, spears, 
fiery darts in flaming volleys, are their weapons. The 
issue of the fight long seems doubtful. At length Mi- 
chael and Satan meet in personal combat; the former 
draws down his resistless sword upon his antagonist, and 
with a swift reverse wheel of the weapon " shares all his 
right side." Satan falls, and writhes to and fro with ag- 
ony. Many of his host interpose for his defense, and 

14 



162 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

bear him from the field. His wound soon heals; for says 
the poet — 

" Spirits that live throughout — 
Vital in every part — 
Can not but by annihilating die." 

We have met the enemy, and, with furbished weapon from 
the armory of truth, we have dealt a continuous wound 
upon the champion spirit; but his friends have borne 
him to his chariot, and he has measurably recovered from 
the stroke. 

We return to the description. The routed host assem- 
ble to deliberate on the future prosecution of the war. 
Nisroch advises that some new arms and ammunition be 
invented, calculated at the same time to defend them- 
selves and offend their yet unwounded enemies. Satan 
assures him that the invention is already conceived, and 
then reveals it. He says beneath the bright surface of 
the ethereal mold, " adorned with plant, fruit, flower am- 
brosial, gems and gold," " there are materials dark and 
crude, of spiritous and fiery spume;" these, he contin- 
ues, "in their dark nativity, the deep shall yield us, 
pregnant with infernal flame;" then in appropriate weap- 
ons they shall prove such implements of mischief as 
shall subdue all opposition. 

The celestial soil is upturned and the sulphurous and 
nitrous materials discovered; these were mingled, con- 
cocted, adjusted, and reduced to blackest grain, and 
finally conveyed to store. Then providing their engines, 
the devils finished their preparations. At the return of 
day they renew the assault. The embattled legions meet. 
The fight rages. Satan's artillery answers his highest 
expectations; the host of Michael fall by thousands — an- 
gel on archangel rolled. 

Our enemy finding himself defeated with his ancient 



TEMPERANCE. 163 

weapon, has devised new ammunition; the plants, ambro- 
sial flowers, and fruits of the fair earth, are concocted and 
adjusted, and in new and more insidious weapons, he 
aims most fatal blows at the temperance ranks; thou- 
sands fall — advocate on advocate is rolled in ruin. 

I return to the description once more. The angels of 
Michael now find that their old weapons are useless; so, 
throwing them aside, they seek new ones. They pluck 
the seated hills from their foundation, bare them with all 
their load, and pile them mountain high upon all the 
cursed artillery of the devil, till those implements, the 
confidence of hell, are whelmed and buried deep; then 
is the battle fair — between angel and angel. The Son 
of God now interposes, and the host of rebel angels is 
precipitated into hell. 

Our old weapons are now of no use, for the arms and 
ammunition of the foe are changed. Let us throw them 
away. Let us take our pledge of total abstinence; pile 
up influence upon this principle mountain high, till the 
whole complicated artillery of Alcohol, however con- 
cocted, combined, fermented, adjusted, or reduced, is 
buried forever beneath it. Then may philanthropy suc- 
cessfully encounter misanthropy; and then may we not 
expect the Spirit of God in unusual power to descend, 
hurl the latter into the wasteful deep, and seat the 
former in millennial rest? 

I pass to notice one or two arguments against this so- 
ciety. It is contended that wine in eastern countries is 
used temperately; that when so used it may be benefi- 
cial; that the Savior countenanced its use. I answer, 
oriental climates are enervating, our climate is bracing; 
oriental wine is pure, ours adulterated; oriental habits 
are temperate, our habits intemperate; and though in 
certain situations and under certain circumstances it may 
be innocently used, yet in our country and age it can not 



164 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS, 

be so employed. But it is inquired, may not oriental 
wines be obtained by some, unadulterated, used by them 
temperately, and when those wines are thus used is their 
employment wrong? I answer, others are injured by 
their example ; and the apostle says, " If meat make my 
brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world 
standeth." 

It is further argued that this society is an attempt to 
substitute temperance for religion. If this were true I 
should abandon it at once, and forever. Never will I 
compromit the doctrines of the Bible. " God forbid that 
I should glory save in the cross." I look upon the effort 
in which we are engaged, as one purely prudential, grow- 
ing out of the circumstances of the nation and the age; 
an enterprise in which every patriot, philanthropist, and 
Christian, of whatever party, creed, or sect, may cheer- 
fully engage. I embark in it as the capitalist engages 
in cutting a canal to unite two distant seas. The primary 
object of the former, as of the latter enterprise, is to in- 
crease the wealth, the commerce, the science, and the 
happiness of the world. If by the one, or by the other 
process, we should also open a portal through which we 
can readily transmit the Bible and the cross, so much 
the more will we rejoice, and to God give all the glory. 

A few words more and I have done. To temperance 
men I beg leave to address a remark. This is a critical 
period of the reformation in which we are engaged. I 
speak, of course, of the general reformation. The illus- 
trious Shakspeare, who well knew all the springs of hu- 
man action, and attentively observed all the wheels of 
human exertion, has said, " There is a tide in the affairs 
of men, which taken at the flood leads on to fortune." 
In the history of nations and of societies, we can see 
points from which they either pushed on to success, or 
sunk back defeated. Such is the point on which we now 



TEMPERANCE. 165 

gtand. We have entered into the field; we have gained 
numerous positions ; we have put forth our efforts upon a 
large scale, and if now we boldly sustain ourselves, our 
triumph is sure. But if at this juncture we relax our 
efforts, final overthrow is certain. When our success was 
small, our positions few, our efforts projected on a mod- 
erate scale, we might rally after a repulse; but if in the 
general engagement we should be overcome, the banner 
of temperance must be struck. 

To the enemies of temperance I propound a question. 
If by opposing you dishearten and depress the friends of 
temperance, and ruin the cause, what will you effect? 
You will not injure those great and good men who pro- 
jected this noble scheme, and at the sacrifice of personal 
interest and popularity maintained it, with all the powers 
of their vigorous minds and holy hearts. You may cover 
their names with obloquy and their cause with contempt, 
but they will not suffer. They have already grown gray 
in the service of their God and their generation; they 
are standing upon the margin of the grave, and will soon 
descend into its bosom; posterity will do them justice in 
this world, and Heaven in that which is to come. But if 
you succeed, you will affect yourselves, and do the world 
an injury. If the experiment now making should fail, 
when will it ever be repeated ? Let history inscribe the 
names of Beecher, Edwards, Edgar, Fisk, Hewitt, Drake, 
and their coadjutors on the roll of defeated champions, 
and record the fact, that the American Temperance Soci- 
ety, after having dotted the globe around with her auxil- 
iaries, proved an abortive enterprise, and in what land, 
and at what period of the world's existence, will be 
found heads sufficiently strong, and hearts sufficiently 
bold, to raise the fallen standard? A failure of the 
American temperance revolution would dishearten the 
friends of temperance in every land, as much ae the 



166 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

breaking up of our government would sink the hearts of 
the champions of liberty throughout the world. 

Perhaps a drunkard may ponder these pages. If so, 
let me say to him, we invite you to sign our pledge, 
though we do it with fear and trembling. Time was 
when we thought no drunkard could be reformed, but ex- 
perience has corrected this opinion. Total abstinence is 
the only plan that is of any avail in your case. Perhaps 
you think it is impossible to apply it. Let me say, you 
have proved the power of habit in becoming intemperate; 
avail yourself now of that power to reform. I give you 
the advice of Hamlet to his mother : 

" Refrain to-night, and that will lend 
A kind of ease to the next abstinence, the next more easy, for use 
Can almost change the stamp of nature, 
And master e'en the devil, or throw him out, 
With wondrous potency." 

I look upon you with regard \ I see beneath your rags a 
soul, in comparison with which the earth and the heav- 
ens are as nothing. For you a Savior hath died, and 
the cross offers to your acceptance as rich a drop of blood 
as ever issued from ImmanueFs veins. I look upon you 
with sympathy; you are my fellow-man — my brother. 
You have been assaulted at the weak point of your na- 
ture, and you are descending to destruction, temporal and 
eternal. I can weep over you — as you go down the steeps 
of ruin my pity shall deepen. And if you should go to 
the lowest point of degradation and crime, I will pursue 
you to your dungeon, throw the mantle of kindness over 
you upon the gallows, and drop the tear of sympathy 
upon your coffin. But spare me, 0, spare me, by timely 
reformation, the anticipation of such offices of sorrow 
and anguish. 

I ask the attention of the ladies one moment. I have 
no disposition to offer you discourtesy on the one hand, 



TEMPERANCE. 167 

or flattery on the other. Your goodness must protect 
you from the former, and your good sense would repel 
the latter. I will not talk to you about the soft and 
silken cords of your influence, but I will call upon you, in 
the name of God, to wield aright those mystic chains 
which Heaven hath given you, and which must be em- 
ployed either in drawing the globe into the whirlpool of 
vice, or raising it to the millennium of virtue. The cause 
in which we are engaged must fail unless it attract your 
support. No great enterprise was ever accomplished un- 
sustained by female influence. Our Revolutionary strug- 
gle would have proved abortive had it not been for fe- 
male feeling and female toil. The hearts of the patriot 
lines which bled on Bunker's hill would have sunk had 
they not been sustained by the emotions of ranks of pat- 
riot mothers and daughters. And whatever might have 
been the feelings of the Revolutionary army, they could 
not have kept the field without the labor of female 
hands. Had not sisters and mothers wove new gar- 
ments for them, the sons and fathers of the Revolution 
must have perished on the tented plain. 

We have met the enemy, we have found him strong; 
"he is no mortal foe," but " fiercer than ten furies, ter- 
rible as hell." We are growing weary, and now we call 
on our mothers and sisters to put their hearts by the side 
of ours, and to weave around us the garment of their in- 
fluence, that we may not faint and fail while exposed to 
the chilling blasts of an ungodly world. 



168 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



ANCIENT philosophy concerned itself chiefly with the 
inner world. For example, Aristotle divides the 
circle of knowledge into three departments: metaphys- 
ics, physics, and ethics; and assigns the chief place to 
the last. This, too, was the grand theme of the porch, 
the academy, and the lyceum. It is to be regretted that 
modern philosophy confines itself almost exclusively to 
the outer world, and that the Christian student fre- 
quently runs his curriculum without being led by his 
instructors into fields mental, moral, immortal. Let us 
dwell for a few moments upon self-exploration — a duty 
which was held in as high importance in the school of 
Socrates as in that of Christ. Know thyself — yvooQt, 
asavtov — was one of the sayings of the wise men of 
Greece. It was ascribed to Solon, the wisest of them 
all, and cut upon the entrance of Apollo's Delphic 
Temple. 

Men are strongly inclined to examine each other — to 
scan with curious eye the fears and hopes, the motives 
and purposes of those with whom they associate. This 
inclination is manifested as well in savage as in civilized 
life, by youth and age, weakness and wisdom, and too 
often it is like the raven, which in a world of fragrance 
scents corruption only. For the discovery of evil in 
others we have an amazing capability; we can see a 
mote in another's eye when we can not discover a beam 
in our own. While busy examining the condition of 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 169 

others, we are ignorant of our own. Often we abhor the 
task of gazing inward. Nor is this wonderful; when 
the sinner looks within he sees an awful void, over 
which fearful forms are hovering, and from whose un- 
known depths alarming sounds arise. He shrinks in- 
stinctively as from the verge of a precipice, and flies to 
business, pleasure, books — any thing that will divert 
attention from himself. When the saint looks within, 
unless his life has been of surpassing purity, he, too, sees 
many things to pain his sight ; imagination holds out 
forbidden images; memory, recorded delinquencies; rea- 
son, neglected dictates; and conscience, a sharpened 
sting; and, alas! too often does he go to the temple when 
he should enter the closet — too often carol the songs 
of praise when he should warble the dirge of penitence. 

In enforcing the duty of self-exploration, that I be 
not tedious, I limit myself by the following questions— 
when, how, and why it should be performed : 

I. When? 

1. Daily. When men settle with each other frequently 
they rarely differ; for they can readily oorrect mistakes 
and remember valid charges. " Short settlements make 
long friends." Would you live on good terms with 
yourself, call your soul to account day by day. Indeed, 
no man can know the general course of his life or 
average strength of his character without frequent, not 
to say daily, self-interrogation. Little does he know of 
Niagara who examines it only here, where it encompasses 
Grand Island, or yonder where its waters plunge the 
fearful precipice. To form an adequate idea of it, we 
must trace it from Erie downward to Ontario ; moreover, 
we should examine on ordinary as well as extraordinary 
occasions. There are who survey not the heart while 
the stream of feeling flows in ordinary channels, who 
look inward only when the showers of grace have swollen 

15 



170 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

it to the freshet-mark, or when the sun of prosperity 
has well-nigh dried its bed. In either case the sight 
may startle, but is it not deceptive ? How shall he who 
gazes at Jordan only when the melting snows of Lebanon 
and Hermon have swelled its current to a torrent, or 
when the lion finds his lair within its outer banks, form 
a just idea of its average breadth and strength? 

Certain periods of the day are peculiarly appropriate 
to this duty. Such is the morn, when the soul rises 
renovated from its nightly tomb, before business raises 
its distracting hum, or temptation uncovers its alluring 
scenes, while silence reigns around, and the moral sun 
is ready to scatter mists from the spirit as the natural 
one does from the mountain-tops, Would you gather 
manna? would you wrestle with an angel? would you 
settle with your soul ? Let thine eyelids open with the 
eyelids of the morning. Nor is evening unfit for mental 
introversion; by its silence and its shade it is suited to 
awaken solemn thought, to remind us of the close of 
life, the darkness of the tomb, and the great tribunal 
beyond it. In its business uses, no less than in its 
solemn associations, it suggests self-investigation. If 
the merchant at the close of day, with anxious heart, 
compares his losses with his gains, the contracts he has 
made with the means of their fulfillment, shall not the 
soul consider the responsibilities it has assumed, the 
penalties it has incurred, and the progress it has made 
either toward eternal bankruptcy or everlasting mansions? 

2. At the close of the week how fitting that we should 
retrospect its labors ! I have often admired the Puritan 
custom, which observes the evening and the morning as 
the first day, because it secures us a Saturday night calm, 
sober, inviting to self-communion. Good were it to 
spend the hours that immediately precede the Sabbath 
in preparation for its holy rest. If we do not, at least 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 171 

let us set apart the Sabbath mora to examine the history 
of the previous week in imitation of God, who, before 
his Sabbatic rest, surveyed his six days' work. The 
Sabbath is his day. What searching of heart and mem- 
ory to meet an earthly judge! What surpassing self- 
exploration to near the God of judgment! Though the 
Lord is every-where present, yet specially is he in his 
holy temple. To go into his house as the horse into the 
battle is to rush against the bosses of his buckler. We 
meet in the temple to enjoy the light of God's word; 
if we would have its beams we must not only close the 
shutters of business, but open the windows of the soul. 
AVe assemble to proclaim his most worthy praise; but 
with what heart, if we have not surveyed his mercies? 
We come together to ask those things that are necessary 
as well for the soul as the body; but how shall we know 
for what to ask without previous inquiry of the inner 
man? 

3. At the close of the year it is the custom in some 
countries for business men to close their accounts, and 
make a thorough examination of their pecuniary condi- 
tion. This is wise ; suspense is less endurable than 
ruin. Moreover, the merchant, upon the borders of in- 
solvency, is often enabled, by a knowledge of his condi- 
tion, to avoid the gulf he is approaching; he sees how 
to retrace false steps, retrench needless expenditures, 
and employ remaining resources. that men cared as 
much for their spiritual and eternal interests ! 

4. At the termination of important epochs of life. 
Some of you, perhaps, are taking leave of the period of 
pupilage; it is a favorable moment to reflect. "The plan- 
ets have just measured off a large portion of your short 
life; shall this not give you pause? Since you first com- 
menced it, Providence has placed many of your friends in 
the grave, but he has brought you up amid innumerable 



172 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

mercies. Have you no oil to pour upon the memorial 
of divine care and goodness ? During the period just 
closed you have been acquiring the means of immeasura- 
ble evil or incalculable good; will you not ask, which? 
You have completed a long march ; will you not inquire, 
whither? You are about to enter upon the important 
duties of maturer years ; you now ask, am I prepared ?" 
Although the periods I have named naturally suggest 
the duty, yet it may be performed at others; but we 
insist that stated and frequently-recurring seasons be 
set apart for it, and that they be sufficiently long and 
hedged from company and worldly cares as by a fiery 
wall. By regularly attending to this duty the mind will 
at the appointed times assume the necessary collected- 
ness. But there are occasional as well as stated periods 
for self-interrogation. 

(1.) Before and after every important action. The cap- 
tain who sets out on a long voyage should see that his 
vessel be sea-worthy; and when he returns to port with 
a rich cargo he needs a watch upon the deck. Our ex- 
amination into the motives with which we enter upon 
momentous schemes should be made timely — before pas- 
sion is aroused or consistency involved — that the design 
may be distinctly seen, and the bearing and sweep of 
the contemplated course of conduct adequately compre- 
hended. The examination which should follow an im- 
portant action should be serious and careful, that we 
may see the evil, and endeavor to neutralize it — that we 
may discern the good, and aim to give it greater efficiency. 

(2.) In periods of affliction consider. There is a 
graceless philosophy which teaches that all human events 
happen according to general laws — that there is no spe- 
cial providence. Patriarchal religion, however, teaches 
that afflictions do not spring from the ground nor sor- 
rows come by chance. The prince of apostles declares, 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 173 

"Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth 
every son whom he receivetli;" and that these " light 
afflictions, which are but for a season, work out for us 
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory/' 
Sickness, misfortune, and bereavement may sometimes 
be punitive — usually corrective. The sweet singer of 
Israel says, u Before I was afflicted I went astray, but 
now have I kept thy law." When God drops a cur- 
tain before our temporal prospects, it is that he may 
direct our attention to our spiritual. It is not enough 
that we patiently submit to his trying dispensations; we 
should retire into our hearts to learn their uses — to in- 
quire what roots of bitterness he would eradicate from 
our soul, what grace he would cultivate within it, or from 
what path he would reclaim our wandering footsteps. 

(3.) Periods of revival. There are times to favor 
Zion, yea, set times. So says God's word — so teach the 
analogies of his providence. There was a pool in Be- 
thesda whose waters were supposed to have no virtue save 
when an angel troubled them ) how eagerly did the suf- 
ferers who waited at its margin watch for the heavenly 
messenger, and pray to be thrust in when his footsteps 
raised the waves ! When God pours an unwonted spirit 
of supplication upon his people and an unusual flood 
of light upon his word, then, though Satan tempt to 
dissipation and the world multiply snares, go into thy 
closet to commune with thy heart. Such moments are 
precious — moments of heavenly suffrage — and with you 
they may soon cease forever. 

There is one season of life particularly favorable to 
this duty — youth; while the mind is impressible, the 
heart susceptible, the habits flexible, and the conscience 
tender. It is easy to stop a race-horse at the start, but 
not at the top of his speed, even upon the brink of a 
precipice. 



174 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

There is one period particularly unfavorable to this 
duty — old age; because it is then of little use. When 
the keepers tremble and those that look out of the 
windows be darkened, it is a poor time to set the house in 
order. If a man would tame the lion of his rampant 
powers, let him not wait till u the grasshopper is a bur- 
den. " If he must upheave the atlas of depraved mental 
habits, let him do it before " the golden bowl is break- 
ing." If he would bind the Hellespont of his passions, 
let him begin ere "the silver cord is loosed. " This 
would be the dictate of reason even if the work were 
of equal difficulty at all periods of life; but the diffi- 
culty of the task increases as the capacity of the man 
diminishes. Yonder is one determined to turn the cur- 
rent of the Mississippi. He enters his canoe, and goes 
down from the gentle source to the very mouth before 
he steps out into the middle of the stream to breast the 
waters. Lo ! an emblem of him who defers the work of 
regulating his soul to the season of age. And who 
knows that he shall ever see old age? There are ten 
thousand forms in which accident or disease may de- 
prive you instantly of life. Earth may open its jaws 
beneath your footsteps, or heaven may smite you with 
its bolt. Suppose you could be assured of old age, de- 
lirium or ennui may make it senseless. Suppose you 
could insure your reason, have you any evidence that 
you would be inclined to the retrospection of a life of 
sin, the training of an uncultured mind, the explora- 
tion of a hardened heart, and the computation of eternal 
retributions? The probability is that you would be 
either in a state of unnatural insensibility or unwonted 
sensibility. If in the former, you would be dozing in 
the scorner's seat; if in the latter, you would need no 
self-examination. Memory unbidden would testify with 
damning accuracy and comprehensiveness, imagination 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 175 

give prelibations of bottomless perdition, and conscience, 
gathering recuperative energies with your departing 
breath, might renew its scorned admonitions in tones 
of thunder, till hell itself might be regarded as a refuge 
if it hide you from yourself 

Let us consider, 

II. How this duty should be performed. 

This question respects both the objects and the mode 
of inquiry. And, 

1. As to the objects. To a due attention to 

(1.) Our physical nature we need not be exhorted. 
It is a beautiful remark of Cicero, in his Tusculan Ques- 
tions, that when our body is diseased, it is an object of 
anxious scrutiny; but when the mind is disordered, we 
feel no interest in discovering its condition — no solici- 
tude for a remedy; because in the former case the mind, 
which feels the body's pain, is sound, but in the latter 
the thing which examines is itself the subject of the 
disease. To the soul, therefore, would we direct your 
chief attention, remarking that we should examine it as 
respects, 

(2.) The intellect. Although it requires the whole 
spiritual essence to think or feel, yet, for the sake of sys- 
tem, we divide its functions into the intellective, the 
sensitive, and the voluntary. The first comprehends 
memory, imagination, association, and reason. As the 
senses inform us of external existences and movements, 
consciousness certifies us of mental states and opera- 
tions. It is the eye of the mind, and by will we can 
fix our attention upon the objects of which it is cog- 
nizant or withdraw it from them. As when we see a 
painting, we may pass it without appreciating it or pause 
and examine it till we feel its beauties, so we may hurry 
through the gallery of paintings which the interior art- 
ist — imagination — draws, without being conscious of 



176 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

their forms, or we may survey each drawing till we are 
sensible of its beauty or deformity. The latter is our 
duty. We may either hasten through a cabinet of nat- 
ural history without any more benefit than from a dream, 
or we may examine every specimen till we perceive its 
properties and relations. Memory is such a cabinet; its 
treasures should be studied, that they may be properly 
classified and arranged. Reason is the power by which 
we compare ideas and draw conclusions; its operations 
should be scanned. One great object of mental scrutiny 
is our intellectual habits. Like the body the mind hath 
its customs, which are gradually formed by its individual 
acts, and if suffered long to go unchecked become uncon- 
trollable. Our opinions constitute another object of this 
species of examination. 

Besides thoughts resulting from the operation of our 
own minds, the Bible teaches that we are subject to 
temptations from the unseen world. These should be 
objects of severest scrutiny. 

Happily there are gracious influences also from the 
invisible world, which should be studied that they may 
be cherished, and may be distinguished by the following 
tests : Are they promised in the Scripture ? Do they lead 
to duty and to God ? 

(3.) We must examine the soul with reference to its 
moral states. We are not born of flint, but have feeling 
as well as thought. Thoughts are followed by pleasures 
or pains, and thus naturally call forth desires, or fears, 
comprehending appetites, propensities, affections, and 
passions. These all have their limits, within which they 
should be kept, and their habits are liable to become 
inveterate. In examining them we are favored with 
explicit rules in the word of God. Besides natural emo- 
tions and desires — which we have in common with 
brutes — we have moral emotions and feelings of obli- 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 177 

gation ; these link us with angels and with God. What 
am I ? what are my faculties, relations, and responsi- 
bilities? are questions which ought to take precedence 
of every other, and to be prosecuted with an intense and 
unequaled solicitude. Till they are settled no man can 
be happy. What madness for a man to be toiling night 
and day, exhausting his physical energies and taxing 
mental powers to the utmost for a few words and 
iigures, when, lo ! he feels about in the damp midnight of 
agonizing conjecture in regard to himself and his eternal 
interests — when he might, by patient, prayerful, daily 
thought, stand in the serene sunshine of settled convic- 
tion ! I proceed to the question, 

In what manner should we examine ourselves ? 

(1.) Patiently. Some enter with spirit upon the task, 
but soon quit it in despair. So have we seen the youth 
enter upon a science with energy, and, because he could 
not see the end from the beginning, abandon it in dis- 
gust. When first yon direct attention inward, you find 
the operation difficult and painful — like reversing an eye 
in its orbit — and when at last it is turned, at the least 
relaxation of volition, it revolves to outward objects, as 
a needle deflected by the electric stream turns to its be- 
loved star the moment the circle is broken; you must 
turn it again and again, till you hold it by an unbroken 
will, and habituate it to a steady, inward gaze. When 
this is done there will still be need of patience ; for at 
first you will see nothing but darkness brooding over con- 
fusion; continue looking, and you soon see a star peering 
from parted clouds, and then another and another; at 
length broad belts of sky shall send lo-ng streams of 
light, uncovering an inner world — dislocated, unsphered, 
flood-swept, and tempest-tossed. 

(2.) This duty must be done prayerfully, or it never 
will be done perfectly. We need God's aid to see our- 



178 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

selves. The starlight of nature and philosophy shows 
us only the superfices of the soul. The heart is deep, 
and no power of analysis, no patience of investigation, 
no concentration of mental energy — unless supernatu- 
rally aided — can explore its depths. Not till the Sun 
of righteousness floods the soul with his holy light can 
we see into the depths of the depraved heart. 

(3.) We must examine ourselves by a proper standard. 
To find standards by which to try our intellectual treas- 
ures were easy.* A few general remarks will suffice. 
But what is the standard in morals? Not the average 
level of human motive and action. Many compare their 
character with that of the multitude, and, finding few 
better than themselves, say, what will become of the 
millions if we be lost? — -not considering that the road 
to perdition is broad and thronged, and the gateway to 
hell wide and perpetually crammed with ruined mind 
and matter. Are the torments of eternal flame less 
certain because the mass of mankind crowd into it? 
Nor is the common measure of character in the Church 
of Christ a safe standard. Tares and wheat grow to- 
gether till harvest, but the angel-reapers will make a 
fearful separation in the day that shall burn as an oven. 
A man without a wedding-garment may seat himself at 
the supper of the Gospel; but detection, exposure, con- 
fusion, and torment await him at the inspection of the 

*ln examining our mental states and habits we must be wary, and have 
an eye upon the great and good. In examining our opinions we must 
guard against two extremes : that credulity which is satisfied with su- 
perficial investigation, and that skepticism which, forgetting that a propo- 
sition and its proof must be homogenous, looks for demonstration when 
it should rest in moral evidence. In examining our science we should see 
that our premises are facts, our deductions logical. Nor should we, in 
separating the true from the false, forget to divest ourselves from preju- 
dice or pride. In the words of Lord Bacon, we must enter the kingdom 
of truth, no less than the kingdom of heaven, as a little child. 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 179 

guests. Not "few" will say at the final judgment, 
"Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?" To 
whom the Judge will reply, "Depart from me, I never 
knew you." 

Nor is sincerity the standard of innocence. We may 
unintentionally err through ignorance ; but this igno- 
rance may be culpable. It certainly is so if it be ow- 
ing to a neglect of our faculties or of our means of 
information. The subject is bound to obey the govern- 
ment. This obligation involves the duty of inquiring 
into the law; if the law has not been placed within his 
reach, or if he be unable, with all the aid he can obtain, 
to understand it, he is exonerated from obedience; oth- 
erwise " ignorance of the law is no excuse." Suppose 
a criminal object to receiving sentence because he did 
not know that his crime was contrary to law; the judge 
would respond, "It was your duty to know it; and where 
knowledge is a duty ignorance is a crime. Had you 
doubted whether the act were criminal, you might have 
resolved that doubt by going either to the prothonotary 
or the magistrate, in whose offices the government is 
careful to deposit copies of its statutes." Paul was sin- 
cere when he consented to the death of Stephen, and 
breathed out threatening and slaughter against the dis- 
ciples of the Lord; but was he innocent? He might 
have known better. The heathen, who, possessing wis- 
dom, became fools, and changing the truth of God into 
a lie, worshiped and served the creature, were doubt- 
less, in many cases, sincere. Yet they were without 
excuse, because that which may be known of God is 
manifest in them; for the invisible things of him — 
attributes — are clearly seen, being understood by the 
things that are made. They who stoned, and sawed asun- 
der, and burned the prophets, and they who quenched 
the violence of fire with the blood of martyrs, verily 



180 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

thought they were doing God service ; but did he accept 
the toil of their bloody hands, or hold them the less 
guilty, because they brought their victims to his altar, 
and kneeled sincerely before the flames ? Did nature or 
truth give bloody instructions? 

In examining ourselves, we must bear in mind that our 
responsibility reaches up to the measure of your capac- 
ity and means of knowing the Divine will. You may 
close your ears to the glory which the heavens declare, 
and shut your eyes upon the handiwork which the firma- 
ment shows; you may restrain your feet from the thresh- 
old of the temple, and your hands from the leaves of 
the book of life ; you may stiffen your neck against the^ 
providences of God, and harden your heart even under 
the dews of the divine Spirit; but you can not escape 
the responsibility which your privileges impose. In the 
equity of the Divine administration, as many as have 
sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; and as 
many as have sinned without the (written) law, shall also 
perish without law, being judged by the works of the 
law written on the heart, and the witness of conscience, 
which alone are adequate to our condemnation. 

We may sincerely desire to do right, yet err from defi- 
cient sensibility of conscience. You ask, "If my moral 
sense fail to admonish me of obligations, am I not ab- 
solved from them?" This depends upon the question 
whether you have previously obeyed all its monitions, 
Conscience owes its power, in a great measure, to the 
treatment it receives. As we are entitled to all the ben- 
efits of its improvement, we are responsible for all the 
consequences of its misimprovement. Were this not so, 
the murderer who drinks without compunction the blood 
of his mangled victims, because he has seared his con- 
science as with a hot iron, were innocent as he who, by 
due cultivation of his moral powers, has made it as 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 181 

sensitive as the apple of his eye. Where, then, is the 
standard by which we are to try our moral state? It is the 
law of God. It were easy to show, that if this is not the 
standard there is none. What is this law? The one 
given amid the thunder and lightning of Sinai — a law 
which relates, not merely to the overt act, but requires 
purity in the inner man, claiming him for a homicide 
who merely hates his brother; and while it broadens be- 
fore our vision so as to sweep the compass of the moral 
world, narrows so as to enter the breast, and span the in- 
cipient thought of the most solitary man — being in sub- 
stance, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart/' etc. Now, what is, we do not say the most, but, 
the least that this can mean? Is it not that we entertain 
an unmixed, unvarying, affectionate desire to please God ? 
Any action performed with this motive is right; any one 
to which we are led by a motive different or below this is 
wrong. Whoever will examine his heart or life by the 
law thus explained, will see the appalling truth, that the 
carnal mind is enmity against God. Thus, the law will 
be a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ; for, he will see 
that the great question with every sinner is, whether he 
is "in the faith." 

I proceed to the question, 

III. Why we should examine ourselves ? 

The answer respects both the mind and the heart. 
Why should we examine the mind? 

1. Because the mind, if left to itself, forms perni- 
cious mental habits. Melancholy illustrations of these 
remarks are to be found every-where — persons who, re- 
signing their minds to the influence of external impres- 
sions, casual images, and accidental associations, find 
thought a task, and business a weariness; and spend 
the best portion of mortal existence in dreams which, 
whether of rapture or of anguish, are alike idle and 



182 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

vicious. "We should see that the mind forms healthful 
customs of collecting, classifying, and arranging useful 
knowledge; of so tracing relations among its stores of 
facts, as to educe the principles which they involve, and 
of so applying all its acquisitions, whether of fact or in- 
ference, as to promote the great purpose of human life. 

2. Because our opinions may be erroneous; indeed, 
truth, in this world, is difficult to find ; error, difficult to 
avoid. Every individual is likely to have many false opin- 
ions. Some of these — as each of us has his besetments — 
may be peculiar to himself; others he may have imbibed 
from his relatives and associates; a larger class, handed 
down from age to age in the schools, he may derive 
through his instructors ; there is death sometimes even 
in the prophet's pot; but the largest class of errors of 
opinion are as old as sin; and, resulting from our natural 
bias to evil, are common to the human family. 

Erroneous opinions are by no means confined to the va- 
cant mind that swallows doctrines as the ox does water. 
The active, the learned, the illustrious maybe in grossest 
error. Nor is error always injurious only to the possess- 
or; it was a mistaken opinion that founded the Inquisi- 
tion; it was an error of judgment that led Tamerlane 
through fields of slaughter. 

3. Because our minds are subject to temptation. It is 
not my purpose to vindicate the doctrine of temptation 
from the cavils of a vain philosophy; suffice it, in pass- 
ing, to say, that temptation, like atmospheric pressure, 
may be needed to the saint. It exercises virtue. The 
eagle tries her young ones by the sun ; Christ by the fur- 
nace. It develops character. Angels were tried; our 
first parents were tried. Development of character may 
be necessary alike for our own information, to qualify for 
important enterprises, and to illustrate the justice of the 
Divine government at the great day; for what though 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 183 

God, who sees the heart, acquit or condemn j could man 
assent if latent rebellion or obedience were not set free ? 

4. Because it invigorates the mind; and this is the 
great object of education. Collegiate studies are instru- 
ments, not ends; and they derive their value from their 
tendency to task the mental powers; but what problem 
or paradigm so rouses to intellectual exertion as the 
study of one's own soul? He who habitually pursues it 
must acquire habits of patient observation, of keen dis- 
crimination, of stern self-command; in fiue, must obtain 
the mastery of his powers, that highest attainment, 
which rendered Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato illustri- 
ous, and to which Locke, Newton, and Franklin owed 
their superiority. Go, then, through mathematics, clas- 
sics, logic, but remember that there is, in the gymnasium 
of your own skull, a mathesis better than they all. 

It facilitates the training of mind. The horticulturist 
should know the nature of his soil. Souls differ as much 
as soils. 

He who cultivates the earth needs to examine that 
which springs up in his field, that he may eradicate the 
thorns which, if not removed, would disappoint him of 
his crop. Atheism, Deism, Universalism, etc., are self- 
sown briers of the mind, which often choke implanted 
truth. The husbandman should often walk a field to see 
that the seed he sows be covered, lest the fowls of heaven 
devour it. An examination of our useful knowledge is a 
harrowing of the mental ground, and causes that to germ- 
inate which else would be lost. 

It prepares us for the most profitable use of our intel- 
lectual powers and resources; and what are they worth un- 
less employed? Arms stacked in the armory never drive 
the enemy. Each man has peculiar gifts, which he 
should carefully study if he would direct his energies to 
the best advantage. Knowledge is good only for show, 



184 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

unless mastered; nor can it be thoroughly mastered with- 
out frequent revision. 

It enables us to mark our mental progress. We read 
of some who are ever learning and never able to come to 
a knowledge of the truth. Satisfied with moving, they 
do not examine whither they are going, or whether they 
advance. Some years since, when there was a circle in 
Philadelphia called Center Square, a teamster, anxious to 
return home, left his lodgings late in the evening, and, 
getting into this square, somewhat sleepy, drove round 
and round it all night; and when morning came, found 
himself only a few paces from his starting-point, after a 
hard night's drive. So have we seen a student go round 
and round a little circle of science, vainly supposing that 
he made rapid progress, because he was now and then out 
of breath. 

It secures tranquillity in exigencies. Suppose the gov- 
ernor of a city to be surrounded by enemies who had em- 
issaries within his walls; were he to neglect the fortifica- 
tions of his capital, the weak points of his outposts, and 
the movements of his foes, what could he do in case of 
attack? whom shall he trust? whither summon strength? 
How vastly different his position and feelings under 
a diligent and daily exploration of all things abound 
him! 

5. Self-inspection is an elevated employment. I ad- 
dress the young and studious who, should they make a 
discovery in science, would rush like Archimedes, from 
the bath, crying, Eureka. The soul is the sublimest of 
all studies. Within it are metaphysics true as God — per- 
fect as creation; ethics, written by an Almighty hand. 
At the bottom of the Red Sea the coralline is of various 
and captivating colors and forms, presenting a scene gay 
and lovely as the most beautiful parterre. There are 
charms, too, in the soul's profound; use but the spiritual 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 185 

diving-bell. The heavens and the earth will pass away; 
the soul will live on and on. 

The astronomer predicts the position and bearings of a 
comet for a hundred years to come; more sublime to fix 
virion an intelligent soul will occupy ten thousand 
ten thousand years ahead; w r hether it will sweep 
ratio course through the fiery gulf, or shine as a 
star in the galaxy of heaven. You would gaze with a 
feeling of elevation upon the invader of Mexico in the 
midst of his tents; but the soul is a spectacle to heaven, 
and earth, and hell Devils in platoons besiege and at- 
tack it, and around it armies of cherubim and seraphim 
encamp. 

6. We have more interest in the soul than in every 
thing else. From other things we must part; fortune 

honors fade, friends die ; we must soon bid them all 
farewell. The soul is our only exclusive empire, and when 
properly regulated, external circumstances have little 
power over it. How vain to study the heavens and the 
earth, and the things under the earth, while we neglect 
the glorious sight, the ever-burning, never-consuming 
bu h within! Shall we seek, by compassing, at the risk 
of life, both sea and land, for knowledge, when, lo ! it is 

r precordia" in our minds? 

7. Its operations — there is much reason to believe — 
] will be eternal. To use the words of another, u In the 

web of human thought which has been weaving upward 
through successive generations, each individual has en- 
j twined his own intellectual history; and thus, through 
' coming years, shall it be inwove with all human concep- 
j tions, till the last infant of the species shall have drawn 
J upon it his silver line of thought. Then shall it be sus- 
J pended in the tapestry of that spacious temple, when the 
j race shall reassemble, alike for intellectual as for moral 
■ retribution. " 

16 



186 MORAL ANt) RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Let us speak next of the reasons for moral examina- 
tion : 

Our probationary state lays us under obligations to it. 
Suppose a captain sailing on the borders of a maelstrom, 
a short distance from a port which, if gained, would give 
him a fortune for life; how sleepless would be his eye; 
how eager his mind ! but what were his danger to the 
dangers of a soul on probation for eternity? Should God 
place us upon the summit of the universe, and direct us 
to tread the zodiac round, would we not ponder the path 
of our feet? but what is this to an entrance upon eter- 
nity? I shudder when I think that there trembles 
within me an immortal soul. How is my alarm increased 
when I reflect that I stand upon a narrow neck of land, 
between eternal and ever-deepening damnation on the 
one hand, and endless and progressive rapture on the 
other! 

As might be expected, this duty is distinctly com- 
manded in Scripture. To question its necessity, there- 
fore, is to impeach Divine wisdom. Like all other du- 
ties, it has its rewards in the present life. It gives stabil- 
ity to character. Some animals can live either in air or 
water. Some Christians, likewise, are amphibious ; main- 
taining one position at all times. When the stream of 
devotion rises and covers them, they appear to be very de- 
votional ; and when the waters subside, and leave them 
in the world's warm sun, they are equally worldly. Such 
do not examine themselves; they have no fixed princi- 
ples — mere creatures of circumstances. He who, under- 
standing himself, acts from principle, is likely to be uni- 
form in character. 

Knowledge of ourselves leads to the subjugation of the 
heart. Some are good Christians in every thing but the 
conquest of the passions ; without which no man can be 
either good or happy. It is the crowning victory of virtue. 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 187 

He who achieves it, is greater than the conqueror of a 
city. The royal philosopher and poet of Israel, who 
spoke three thousand proverbs, and whose songs were a 
thousand and five, was conquered by his heart. Had he 
faithfully examined it, would he have been subdued? 
Can a man know that his bosom is full of rattlesnakes 
and not tear them out ? 

Every action has a tendency to good or evil without 
end; for our influence will be felt to the end of time — in 
eternity. When a man's movements may bring life or 
death to thousands, how circumspectly should he act ! 

Our liability to self-deception shows the necessity of 
this duty. Man is prone to flatter himself. How often 
does he who acknowledges that he should know his heart 
better than any thing else, prove that he knows it less! 
Who does not arrogate to himself virtues he has never 
displayed, and credit himself for abstaining from vices 
which he has never had an opportunity to practice ? Who 
does not fondly dream that the abhorrence with which he 
views guilt in the hour of devotion will attend him 
through the whirlwind of temptation? but as well sup- 
pose that you would be safe amid explosion, because you 
can cross the magazine with impunity before the spark is 
applied. The world flatters us. When conscience wakes 
up, how often does the world, like the heathen at the fu- 
neral pile, rattle her drum to drown the cries ! The prog- 
ress of sin is slow and almost imperceptible. A fault is 
committed, and we say, as Lot of Zoar, "Is it not little?" 
but if a boy at midnight enter your bedroom window 
would you say, "Is he not a little fellow?" and sleep on? 
True, he may be small, but large enough to light a match, 
or slip a bolt. 

"The heart [itself] is deceitful above all things." If 
God should speak from heaven and say that your bosom 
friend was deceitful, would you not watch her? That 



188 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

truth of inspiration, unwelcome and alarming as it is, 
finds an illustration in the broad fact that unregenerate 
men do not consider themselves "wicked" Special illus- 
trations, too, abound. How little did Hazael know of his 
heart when he said, "Is thy servant a dog that he should 
do this thing ?" The young man who went to Christ 
saying, "What good thing shall I do that I may inherit 
eternal life V thought he had kept the law from his 
youth; but when Christ touched his heart at a vulnerable 
point, he at once manifested his inherent spirit of rebell- 
ion. Need we remind you of that bold apostle, who 
said, "Though all men forsake thee, yet will not IT' 
How often, upon the sick-bed, do men fancy they repent 
and believe, but when they rise, forget or scorn their re- 
ligious feelings and vows? 

Though we may deceive ourselves, we can not long de- 
ceive our fellow-men. We live in a world full of eyes, 
and can find no hiding-place from their keen and pene- 
trating glances. Ours, too, is a thinking world; though 
men are generally averse to study, not so when each 
other's characters are the subjects. In the store, the 
market, the street, even in the sanctuary of home, we 
are subjects of scrutiny; little prattlers often conceal be- 
hind keen eyes most busy brains, which, without knowing 
any thing of logic, go through the most complicated proc- 
esses of analysis, with a view to the ascertainment of 
character. Nor are the elements of investigation into the 
human heart difficult of attainment. The most opaque 
garments the soul can weave are more or less transpar- 
ent; and who has not moments when his spirit looks out 
at her window? 

Nor can we deceive God. When Lafayette was im- 
prisoned at Olmutz, he never looked through the keyhole 
of his cell without seeing the eye of a sentinel looking 
upon him. You may lock yourself up in the citad*! of 



SELF-KNOWLEDGE. 189 

your breast; but remember, God's eye looks through the 
walls. 

But you say, how cau I examine myself? My duties, 
my conversation, my reading, my very devotion, leads me 
out of myself. Suppose a spirit alight before your face 
to-day ; it stands still, but you can not discern the form 
thereof; an image is before your eyes; there is silence, 
and } T ou hear a voice; would not the hair of your flesh 
stand up? Suppose the mysterious one were to fix a fiery 
gaze upon you; to follow you to your fireside; be at your 
down-lying and your up-rising; and compass all your 
paths; would you not inquire with a shudder into his 
character and designs? And are there not mysterious 
forms in the soul's depths, that attend your living paths; 
that will haunt your dying pillow, and, if you repent not, 
torment you in the regions of the lost? Can you not in- 
quire into them? Suppose that to-night some ruffians in 
disguise should seize you in your bed, and binding you 
hand and foot, and fettering your tongue, should hurry 
you by fleet horses to some island in the gulf; would you 
not inquire, who are my captors? whither do they hurry 
me ? what will they do with me ? how can I escape ? 
Sinner, your sins hold you captive, and are driving you 
at fearful speed to a gulf, of which that of Mexico is but 
a faint emblem. Say you not, whither am I going? who 
•are my captors? what my fate? and is there no escape? 
Suppose that to-day you should be taken sick; the physi- 
cian gives you, by mistake, a dose that puts you into a 
mysterious sleep, simulating death; you are wrapt in the 
winding-sheet, and watched all night as a corpse; to- 
morrow your friends assemble for your interment; the 
minister offers a solemn prayer at your coffin ; your 
mother and father, clad in mourning, wring their hands 
in anguish over you, and rain tears upon your pallid 
cheek; brother, and sister, and friend, sigh as if their 



190 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

hearts were breaking. Slowly the hearse conveys you to 
the grave; the mourners follow in solemn procession 
through the streets ; the pall-bearers lower you into the 
narrow house; the minister utters the solemn words of 
Jesus, " I am the resurrection and the life;" offers the 
funeral prayer; and dismisses the assembly; the clods of 
the valley fall thick and fast upon your coffin; the grave 
will soon be filled up; and now you wake from your 
trance. What mean the shrieks, the groans, the sound 
of struggling arms beating against the coffin lid? They 
tell the astonished sexton and wondering multitude that 
crowd like madmen to the yet open grave, that you have 
found out where you are, and are struggling for your life. 
But what is all this to burying alive an immortal soul ? 
As you lie in the tomb of sin, and ministering angels 
weep at your grave, and the world shovels in its smother- 
ing earth upon you, and the Savior's voice from the sky 
pierces your ear with the words, " Awake thou that sleep- 
est, and arise from the dead," do you tell me you can't 
think where you are, nor make a struggle to burst your 
spiritual coffin? 

But one may say, I have arisen from the sepulcher of 
spiritual death — need I examine myself? Look! Two 
well-matched gladiators step into the arena; honor, life, 
depend upon the conflict. Brandishing their furbished 
weapons, they step, now forward, now backward, now 
sideways; and now, as if looking all ways at once, they 
pause; their muscles all trembling to leap, but each com- 
batant unwilling to strike till he can begin the battle 
with a desperate, if not deadly stroke. Would either 
need to be told to see well to his position? What would 
be the consequence should one grow negligent and begin 
to ogle the gaping multitude? In such a position as 
these gladiators are you, saint, but the fight is more 
desperate, the issue of infinitely greater consequence. 



LOVE OF TRUTH. 191 



%abt at %tnt\. 

THE age is one of anomalies, of revolutions, of epochs ; 
of Apocalyptic trumpet-soundings and seal-openings. 
It calls for men. That we may respond to this call we 
must have many characteristics ; one of which is love 
of truth. 

Truth, as I use the word, is right opinion, or the 
conformity of notions to things ) by love of truth I 
mean such an attachment to it as will lead us to seek 
for it, publish it, defend it, and, if need be, suffer for it. 
Contemptible and hypocritical is the man who delights 
not in the society of his wife, who is slow to speak in 
her praise, or is unwilling, at the hazard of his own life, 
to defend her honor and shield her heart. You ask, 
how can I love truth? Place it before you in lovely 
attitudes — regard it as the divinely-ordained companion 
of the soul — to cleave unto which man, if need be, 
should forsake father and mother, and side by side with 
which it may stand up naked before its Maker and not 
be ashamed. View it as the sweet solace of care, the 
soft bosom of rest, and the God-appointed reward of 
intellectual toil. 

The advantages of love of truth are incalculable — it 
promotes science, comfort, usefulness, .glory, salvation. 
It promotes science by fixing and limiting attention, and 
clarifying the mind, and purifying the heart. Our age 
is an inquiring one, an educated one. Time was when 
the man of superficial scholarship might be eminent, 



192 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

now to be distinguished a man must be profound. To 
be profound in any science we must give intense atten- 
tion to it — imperfect views, though frequently repeated, 
make no permanent impression. 

The object must be apprehended firmly and held 
steadily before the mind till it becomes the clear, strong, 
exclusive object of perception before deep impressions 
can be made upon the memory; but to do this requires 
great energy of will, and how is the will to be moved 
without emotion, and where is the emotion that can 
move the will at all times to direct, condense, confine 
the perception upon useful science. Avarice, ambition, 
pride, vanity ; emulation may often answer this purpose 
for a time, but truth courted with these motives is gen- 
erally soon forsaken. She is a coy maiden ; she some- 
times leads us across rivers, and over rocks, and 
through forests; she often hides her beautiful face, and 
suppresses her sweet song, and conceals her rosy gar- 
land, and even takes her way by the glittering chests of 
the miser, and within view of the looming entablature of 
the capitol, and through the glittering saloons of pleas- 
ure, and the enchanted castle of indolence, that she 
may try her suitors and rid herself of all but true lovers. 

The love of truth not only fixes attention, but it con- 
fines it within a limited circle. He who pursues knowl- 
edge with any other motive will be likely to diffuse 
his attention over the whole encyclopedia. A scientific 
coquette, he will wander from author to author, from sub- 
ject to subject, without thought, and just as inclination 
or interest may dictate. What is the consequence? He 
recollects nothing distinctly; his mind is filled with 
half-formed images and unsettled opinions; the proof 
and doubt are mixed together; the balance not struck; 
and, what is worse, the mind, undisciplined to nice dis- 
crimination and patient thought, is incapable of con- 



LOVE OF TRUTH. 193 

centrating its powers or analyzing its subject. What 
can it do? "Jack of all trades, it is master of none/' 
You would as soon think of employing it in a mental 
operation as of employing him who makes his own pen- 
knife and his own pitchfork, the coat for his own back 
and the shawl for his wife's, the shoes for his children 
and the shoes for his horse: who pleads his own law, 
preaches his own Scripture, and manufactures his own 
pills, in a mechanical operation. 

He who cultivates a love of truth for its own sake, 
will soon have his attention riveted upon some beautiful 
form of truth that will captivate his soul. To this his 
visits become frequent and long, till at length the fair 
enchantress is his life, and inspires him with a love for 
her stronger than death. You inquire, Will he not grow 
tired of her? Nay, he sees new beauties every day, and 
fancies that she has excellences which angelic mind 
could not fathom. What is the consequence ? If he 
have any mind he becomes eminent. One fell in love 
with Music — heavenly maid; his love grew more and 
more intense; at length it occupied all his attention 
and absorbed all his heart — he seemed to know nothing 
but Music's power. Now, mark ! he touches the strings, 
and mankind are entranced ; he touches again, and the 
tide of life almost stops. Another becomes enamored 
of Philosophy; so devoted does he become to her, that 
he is little better than a fool in every thing else. But 
he sheds luster on his age, is gazed on as a supernal 
being, and becomes immortal as his language. One falls 
in love with Christ and him crucified; and, though the 
idea is to the Jew a stumbling-block and to the Greek 
foolishness, being deeply loved, it is fully grasped, and, 
being fully grasped, it fills his soul and provokes his 
firm resolve to shut out every thing that would interfere 
with its supremacy. "I determined to know nothing 

17 



194 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

among you," etc. Other thoughts this apostle had, 
numerous and grand, but, like the planets of the solar 
system, they were held, governed, warmed, and illumin- 
ated by the central fiery orb — thought of the cross. 
This truth palsies all the ordinary passions of man — 
sensuality, ambition, avarice — and transmutes the alluring 
objects of earth into "dung and dross." It bears up 
the spirit under labors, watchings, fastings, and perils; 
it robs prisons, chains, reproach, pain, and persecution 
of their power to disquiet or alarm, and vacates the 
charms of the most glorious objects and most glowing 
associations of both nature and art. This one thought 
produces one line of action. Mark the course of that 
man who is under its power ! Whether on a wreck in 
the Mediterranean, or in a parlor of the imperial palace; 
before the elders of Ephesus, or the tribunal of Agrippa; 
at the court of the Areopagus, or surrounded by the 
inhabitants of a desolate island; sailing under the limbs 
of the Colossus, or chased by pirates up the iEgean ; 
musing in full view of the Acropolis, or singing hymns in 
the Philippian jail— ask him what he is doing? His 
answer is, " This one thing I do, forgetting those things 
which are behind," etc., "I press forward/' Indeed, ex- 
ternal circumstances seem to have but little power over 
him; he must have passed the graves of Lycurgus and 
Solon, and the birthplaces of Apelles, Hippocrates, Py- 
thagoras; he must have followed the traces of the blind 
old man of Scio's rocky isle, and stood before the most 
gorgeous temples and most noble statuary of the gods ; 
and yet, with a mind fitted to take fire at the glorious 
scenes of classic renown, he 'does not intimate that he 
had ever seen them. What was the consequence? He 
became Paul the apostle of the Gentiles. But in ac- 
counting for his success by his unity of thought and 
purpose, am I not guilty of assigning a false cause? 



LOVE OP TRUTH. 195 

Now, how else will you account for it? By his learning? 
But the gift of tongues placed the fishermen of Galilee, 
in the apostolic college, upon a level, in respect of lan- 
guages, with Paul himself. By his eloquence? Doubt- 

- he knew how to sweep the chords of the human heart. 
But his speech and his preaching were not with enticing 

rdfl of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the 
spirit and of power. He forbore to exercise the arts of 
oratory, lest the excellency (virtue) of the power might 
appear to be of him and not of God. Moreover, Apollos 
was eloquent, and mighty in the Scriptures too. yet he 
was no Paul; his soul had not felt to its full extent the 
expulsive, condensing power of the evangelical affection. 

It promotes purity of thought. Philosophy was once 
encompassed and arrested by false theories and human 
prejudices. How came she to emerge from the cloud, 
and proceed on her way rejoicing? Bacon fell in love 
with simple physical truth. His first work was to point 
out the delusions of human philosophy, which he justly 
denominated idols, and divided into four classes : idola 
tribus, or prejudices common to all men; idola sjiecus, in- 
dividual misconceptions ; idola fori, idols mutually recip- 
rocated by mankind; idola theatri, or the prejudices of 
the schools. His next step was to teach men to cast 
away these idols. His third step was to bid men enroll 
the pure phenomena ; his fourth was to make men com- 
pare their tables of instances; and his last to arrive at 
real knowledge by full and honest induction. The eman- 
cipation of the world from the systems of false philoso- 
phy, and the splendid achievements of modern science, 
are traceable to Lord Verulam's love of pure, physical 
truth. This principle operates in a similar way in all 
cases ; it is to error and prejudice, what the sandal-tree 
is to insects — it demands death or departure. 

It promotes moral purity and simplicity. T say not 



196 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

that without grace it will purify the soul, yet such is its 
tendency; it predisposes to the Bible; for truths, like 
the stars, are reciprocally attractive. 

It inclines also to that simplicity of expression and de- 
sign which abhors scheming, falsehood, tergiversation. 
The lover of truth, like Truth herself, prefers transparent 
garments. The world once was shrouded in religious 
night; the Church seemed to have lost her power of rev- 
olution under a starless heaven. What brought in the 
light? Luther saw a Bible; turned away his eye from 
the clouds, and fell upon his knees. Erelong the bosom 
of the Church warmed beneath the rays of a moral sun. 

Love of truth promotes comfort. It may lead us into 
conflict, but not with conscience or with reason. Our 
foes will be all external; no discord, nor fear of discord, 
within the breast; but harmony, sweeter than of lutes, 
more stirring than of trumpets. 

It keeps the soul in its natural element. Interest, am- 
bition, avarice, may plant the soul where all its faculties 
are repressed; love of truth places it where its powers 
must be developed. The cedar, in a cave where there is 
no light, nor change of air, nor genial showers, can never 
flourish; on the mountain-top, fanned by the breeze, 
warmed by the sun, and watered by the shower, it will 
strike deep its roots, and lift to the clouds its head. 

Truth is the mind's element; bathing in it, it can 
grow freely, like the tree planted by the river's side, 
whose leaf never withers, and whose fruit never fails. 

When the soul moves in truth there is no necessity for 
concealing motives, nor shame at their revelation. The 
selfish man has an everlasting ado to keep his motives 
buttoned under his breast, and he must be a genius if he 
can keep the dirty things from crawling out from beneath 
the covering; but the honest man wears a jewel on his 
breast — the love of truth — and he cares not who sees it. 



LOVE OF TRUTH. 197 

It promotes usefulness, by promoting decision, activity, 
and confidence. Without decision no man was ever 
greatly useful ; with it a man must be a madman, a devil, 
or a fool, if he be useless. But what, save the love of 
truth, can make the truly-decided character? If a man 
be governed by interest, he is as liable to change as the 
chameleon; if by popularity, as the passing breeze, 
which comes, we know not whence, and goes, we know 
uot whither. Truth only, in this world, like God, is im- 
mutable. The frail mortal seated on this rock is stead- 
fast — like that column in the capitol; come at morn, at 
noon, at night; come in the calm or in the storm, you 
find him in the same relative position ; nay, more, he is 
unmovable; the column can be removed by the power of 
man — the soul on truth, like a rock in the ocean, bids de- 
fiance to all but Omnipotence. I care not how small the 
mind, if it is planted on truth its position is sublime, its 
power tremendous. See Luther, a solitary monk, rising 
against a power that made kings do homage and earth 
tremble. Tetzel, clothed with the thunders of the Vati- 
can, burns his thesis with ignominy, and denounces him 
as a damnable heretic, but he stands. A thousand barbed 
ecclesiastical arrows quiver on the string, directed at his 
heart, but he trembles not ; he meets the Papal legate at 
Augsburg, and mildly, firmly, maintains his position; la- 
menting that he is regarded as the leading adversary of 
the whole Church of God on earth, yet speaking with 
unfaltering accent. Summoned to battle against the 
combined powers of Church and state, in the Diet at 
Worms, his friends gather around him to dissuade him, 
urging that they who had burned his writings would burn 
his body. "I would go, if I knew there were as many 
devils at Worms as tiles on the houses/' is his grand reply. 

By promoting activity. Nothing so paralyzing to the 
will as the want of the hope of success. Call on a man to 



198 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

overturn a mountain, and what will his energies be 
worth? Convince a man that his labor must be success- 
ful, and you may command his utmost powers. Truth is 
invincible; men may denounce it, legislate against it, 
join hand in hand, the world around, to put it down, but 
all in vain. Suppose all nations to form a league against 
the law of gravitation ; to compel every society, and col- 
lege, and corporation, to pronounce against it, and choke 
every utterance of it with the point of the bayonet. 
What were all this? The earth would still wheel in its 
orbit, and the waters roll to the ocean, and every human 
footfall preach the true philosophy. 

God has his moral as well as his physical laws, and 
they are uniform and irresistible ; yet men sometimes 
league against them. They collect in some city or plain, 
and, seizing some great cord of the moral universe, they 
say, "Gro to, now, let us break this band, and cast away 
this cord from us;" but, "He that sitteth in the heav- 
ens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. " 
Men may gather a great party, and get a great name, and 
manufacture a great deal of brick, and mix a great deal 
of slime, and build a great Babel, and get a great many 
offices and emoluments in opposing moral truth; but there 
runs through human nature a great feeling of moral obli- 
gation, that, sooner or later, will break into a thousand 
fragments any party that sets itself in opposition to the 
laws of the universe. Every man knows this, and when 
he puts himself on the wrong side, this conviction puts 
out one half his strength. Reverse the picture, if you 
would see the influence of truth on activity and power. 
Though a man may have no great name, no party, no 
money, no offices, on his side, he has no fears; though 
truth may suffer a temporary depression, he sings, 

" Truth struck to earth will rise again; 
The eternal years of God are hers." 



LOVE OF TRUTH. 199 

Not only does love of truth stimulate to activity, but it 
prevents any waste of it. Its operations are simple and 
effective ; it takes no trouble to procure the subscription 
of philosophers, the indorsement of societies or parties; 
it is at no pains for drums, and flags, and mottoes; it 
needs no Pantheon, or Coliseum; no St. Peter's, or St. 
Paul's; no cathedrals, or Nauvoo temples, or statuary, or 
ghostly ceremonies, to drown its fears, or waken its en- 
thusiasm, or excite the world's attention. 

It asks not protection from civil government; as soon 
would it ask it for the sun, moon, and stars. As Luther 
said, the good man looks up into God's beautiful arch 
and fears not lest it should fall, though he see not and 
feel not any pillars; so he looks up to truth; and though 
it be encompassed with clouds, and without visible sup- 
port, he knows there is a bow of promise to span it, an 
eternal arm to bear it up. 

Truth must eventually prevail. Let a man take a truth 
against the world, and proceed to conflict; and within a 
single lifetime he may bring the whole human race 
over to his side. Harvey said, the blood circulates — the 
rest of the world said, it does not; the priesthood cried, 
blasphemy; the schools grinned in contempt; conserva- 
tism, in holy veneration of antiquity, cried out against 
modern madness; but ere the great anatomist died, he 
saw his profession revolutionized. Galileo was twice per- 
secuted by the Inquisition, and compelled to abjure the 
Copernican system; but he lived long enough to say, "it 
moves," and yet breathe freely. Columbus, inferring 
from the lunar eclipses that the earth was a sphere, con- 
cluded that it might be traveled over from east to west, 
or from west to east. With this great truth, and the 
means of its demonstration, he was for years little better 
than a wandering pauper; but he at length kissed the 
ground of San Salvador, and was led in triumph through 



200 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

his native land as admiral of Spain, and the discoverer 
of a new world. 

Thus, also, with moral truth. Wesley seized, in his 
solitary musings, a glorious truth ; but he found himself 
in opposition to priests, and colleges, and nobles; to the 
Church, patronized and fortified by the state, and orna- 
mented by the talent, learning, wit, and wealth of the 
nation. He went into the highways and hedges, the 
mines arid coal-pits; and before he lay down his trum- 
pet, his name was pronounced with veneration half over 
Europe and America, and the islands of the sea, and his 
disciples were as the stars for multitude. Clarkson found 
a precious truth, but it was resisted by almost every man 
in the United Kingdom. It was opposed, more or less, 
to every man's interests and prejudices; it was barred by 
the strong battlements of antiquity and law, and assailed 
by matchless eloquence and wit. Steadily, prudently, 
does the great apostle of liberty preach his doctrine, and 
gradually does the whole nation fall before it, till, at an 
expense of one hundred thousand millions of dollars, it 
sends across the ocean the mighty word that slavery 
should exist in her colonies no longer. 

0, 'tis wonderful, what one mortal, with one truth, can 
achieve in this wicked world; and yet, not wonderful, for 
truth is omnipresent. "Do you think the Pope fears Ger- 
many?" said the legate of St. Peter's chair, to the hum- 
ble but honest monk at his feet. "Do you think the 
princes will defend you with arms ? Most certainly they 
will not; whither, then, will you find refuge?" " Under 
the wide heavens," was the noble reply. 

He who goes with the party, and shouts as the people 
shout, may be compelled, by the death of a president, 
the vote of a council, or the passage of a river, to change 
his note ; but he who follows truth, though he should as- 
cend to heaven, or make his bed in hell, or take the 



LOVE OF TRUTH. 201 

wings of the morning, to dwell in the uttermost parts of 
the earth, will find the universe dovetailed to his doc- 
trine. 

Truth is not only always present, but always operating. 
When the drums cease beating, and the flags no longer 
fly, and the people return to their houses, the popular 
enthusiasm evaporates, and you know not how to raise an 
argument or hurra for error; but truth, in private, no 
less than in public; in shade equally as in sunshine; at 
midnight, as well as at noon ; and oft in visions of the 
night, when deep sleep falleth upon man ; wherever 
there is a conscience to feel, or a mind to think ; truth, 
like the law of gravitation, with its silent but sweet and 
irresistible attractions, works out its blessed problems. 
Stay it? as soon stop Niagara ! It may begin as a little 
spring in the mountain side; it may roll silently along 
the meadow, concealed by the grass; it may gurgle as a 
rivulet over its pebbly bed; but its gathering might 
laughs at chains, as the Hellespont at Xerxes. 

Truth is glorifying. Look over the scroll of fame, and 
you shall find none possessed of an enviable immortality, 
but such as have been truth's consistent champions. Great 
talents, great industry, great eloquence, have, in every age, 
gone down to the grave without honor; while, in numerous 
instances, inferior mind, linked to a great truth, has se- 
cured an everlasting renown. True, a man may suffer for 
truth ; may die for it. Well, let him die ; and, like 
Epaminondas at the battle of Mantinea, with the javelin 
in his breast, let him inquire the fate of the battle, and he 
shall be able to say, "I have lived long enough." When 
we bury him, we will write upon his gravestone, " Go, 
traveler, tell truth I lie here in obedience to her laws." 

It were a miserable thing to sacrifice truth, even to 
save life. Cranmer was enticed by the Papists to do so. 
They promised him the restoration of his dignities, and 



202 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

the favor of the Queen if he would but sign a brief and 
ambiguous renunciation. This he did ; it was sent to the 
council and returned; another was presented, more full 
and with less reserve. Ashamed to retreat, and unwill- 
ing to lose the benefit of his first subscription, he signed 
this also. It was forwarded, and returned as not satisfac- 
tory; another was offered more full and express. This 
process was continued till the sixth paper was signed, in 
which he anathematized and renounced what he believed 
to be true, and acknowledged as true what he believed to 
be false. And now, when he looked for the reward, his 
enemies, without any warning to him, led him to the 
stake, and announced that it was expedient for him to 
die, although he had become a good Catholic, because no 
confidence could be reposed in him. No tongue can de- 
scribe the agonies of soul that he felt as he listened to 
the declaration; sometimes lifting his streaming eyes to 
heaven, and sometimes in uttermost dejection casting 
them to the ground. At the close of the announcement 
he fell upon his knees and uttered a prayer commencing 
with the following words: lt 0, Father of heaven; 0, Son 
of God, Redeemer of the world; 0, Holy Ghost, proceeding 
from them both; three persons and one God; have mercy 
upon me, most wretched caitiff and miserable sinner ! I, 
who have offended both heaven and earth, and more griev- 
ously than tongue can express ! Whither then shall I go, 
or where shall I fly for succor ! To heaven I am ashamed 
to lift up mine eyes, and on earth I find no refuge." 

On rising, he said, among other things, "And now I 
come to the great thing that so much troubleth my con- 
science, more than any thing I ever said or did in my 
whole life ; and that is, the setting abroad a writing con- 
trary to the truth, which I here renounce as things writ- 
ten with my hand contrary to the truth which I thought 
in my heart, and written for fear of death.' ' Being 



LOVE OF TRUTH. 203 

chained to the stake, he raised his right hand, saying, 
u This is the hand that wrote; therefore it shall first suf- 
fer punishment." Fire being applied, he stretched out 
his right hand to the flame, and held it there unmoved — 
except that once he wiped his face with it — till it was 
consumed; crying with a loud voice, "This right hand 
hath offended, this unworthy right hand !" 0, how differ- 
ent this martyrdom from that of Ridley or Latimer! 
"What a lesson for the young! The traitor to the truth 
loses the confidence of friends, the respect of foes, the 
consciousness of rectitude, the favor of God, the might 
of truth, and often the promised reward of treachery; 
and is in the end forsaken, despised, and burned, by the 
very men for whom he has sacrificed his all. Year after 
year, Washington, London, Paris, has many cases of 
political martyrdom; not of glory, but of shame; and 
hell doubtless has its myriads of martyrs who, in the 
eternal flame, cry out forever, "This hand hath offended; 
this unworthy right hand." 

Bilney, through the persuasion of friends, and the in- 
firmity of nature, was influenced to recant; but when he 
returned, and was offered the congratulations of his 
friends on his escape from the flames, he refused to re- 
ceive them, but fell into appalling gloom and anguish, 
which continued two years; during which neither food 
nor drink, nor friends, nor even the communication of 
God's word did him any good. He thought the whole 
volume of truth was against him, and sounded to his con- 
demnation. At length he arose from his bed of sor- 
row and remorse, by resolving to die for that truth 
which he had renounced. And now, with gladness he 
ate his food, and met his friends, and parted with them, 
saying, "I go to Jerusalem, and shall see you no niore." 
Then he preached both publicly and from house to house, 
till he was arrested. In prison he was cheerful as a lark 



204 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

mounting to the morning sun. On the eve of his execu- 
tion he said, "The fire may be hot to my body, but the 
Spirit of God will refresh and cool my spirit with ever- 
lasting comfort. In the flame I shall fed no heat; in 
the fire no consumption; the body shall be wasted, but 
the soul shall be purged; the pain shall be short; the 
joy that shall follow, unspeakable." He marched peace- 
fully to the stake, and, doubtless, ascended to heaven in 
his chariot of flame, leaving his mantle on earth, to be 
worn in all succeeding ages. 

Francis Spira, a celebrated lawyer of Citadella, in Italy, 
embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, as soon as 
they were introduced into that country, and freely ex- 
pressed his opinions of them. As he was a man of great 
abilities, the archbishop of Benevento determined to 
crush him at once. When he was informed of his dan- 
ger he was persuaded, for the sake of his family, to beg ab- 
solution, promise obedience, and make a public recanta- 
tion, which he did against his clear convictions. His con- 
science reproached him again and again; he was struck 
with unutterable horror, and fell into despair. He ex- 
pressed himself in language too awful to repeat concern- 
ing his crime and his damnation from God. He was re- 
moved to Padua, and placed under the care of physicians, 
who declared that his case was moral, and beyond their 
reach. He was surrounded with the clergy, who recited 
to him the beautiful promises of God; but he insisted that 
these were not for him, who must be damned to ever- 
lasting torment, because he had abjured the truths of 
God, knowing them to be so. He said he felt the pains 
of hell within himself; that he wanted to be at the worst 
with hell, as the expectation of more torments increased 
those he already sustained. In this state of mind he left 
the world, giving it a lesson which should not be lost. 

How miserable the life, how unlamented the death, 



LOVE OF TRUTH. 205 

how shameful the memory of Arnold! He was a traitor; 
and will be execrated while his country lasts. More 
shameful the traitor to truth than the traitor to liberty. 
He may win money and office, but he will soon be found 
wanting, and numbered with the hateful and odious. In 
■ shipwreck a man will save his jewels, and let the rest 
go. Whatever calamity we may suffer, let us save the 
jewel of truth; in so doing we shall save honor, peace, 
and a good conscience, which the world can neither give 
nor take away. 

You may think this exhortation needless. We have 
no fear of the stake; but ambition, lust, avarice, pride, 
intemperance, slavery, infidelity, are as hard masters as 
ever the Papacy was ; they bribe as often, they deceive 
as often, they destroy as cruelly, when they obtain power, 
as ever did Bloody Mary. Every year they lure their 
victims from the truth, and are sure, when they succeed, 
to plunge them, in the end, into a fiery death ; happy in- 
deed are they if they escape the second death! 

It promotes salvation. The man who loves truth must 
hate sin. They are contrary, the one to the other. No 
man who loves his father will do that which is displeas- 
ing to him ; or, if he do, he will grieve over it, repent 
of it, seek to atone for it, and rest not till he has obtained 
forgiveness. Let a man only love truth, and he will soon 
love God and holiness. On the other hand, let him love 
error and commit wrong, and he will hate God and his 
laws. One celebrated sinner cried out, " I see all glory 
and excellency in God; but so far from loving him on 
that account, I more horribly hate him." 

0, love but the truth, and the truth will make you 
free! Why should you love error? it is from hell, and 
will lead you thither. 



206 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



THE modes and the motives for this duty might be 
appropriately treated. Dismissing the former, let us 
confine our attention to the latter. These may be 
summed up in three words — interest, duty, and grati- 
tude. Lest we be wearisome, let us omit the first and 
the last, and treat simply of the interest we have in our 
own good deeds. If we could see the end from the 
beginning, doubtless we should perceive that nothing 
wrong is expedient, nothing right inexpedient, so inti- 
mately has God blended our interest with our duty. 
Even with the imperfect vision allowed we are at no 
loss to discover that, as a general rule, when we promote 
the interest of another we subserve our own. Benefi- 
cence promotes our safety, prosperity, and happiness. 
It increases our safety. There is no protection like the 
love of those around us, and there is no way to provoke 
love in others so effectual as to exhibit it toward them 
ourselves. The robber will hardly pick the lock of his 
benefactor ; the slanderer's tongue will not move against 
a patron of the poor, unless, indeed, it be set on fire of 
hell, and even then the flames would soon be quenched 
by public indignation. The cheapest, swiftest, most 
effectual policemen, indeed, the only ones that can guard 
alike one's person, estate, and character, are deeds of 
charity. More especially is this the case where public 
will makes law and public feeling executes it. 

Most men have relatives to protect — mothers, or sis- 



DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 207 

ters, or brothers, or wives. Let your kindred live among 
those who have either enjoyed or observed your sym- 
pathy or your bounty, and they will walk in safety and 
sleep in blessings. 

They tell me that once in a certain city, when the 
cholera was raging, there were a few beautiful young 
ladies who, like Paul at Ephesus, or the blessed Jesus 
at Jerusalem, went about from house to house as angels 
of mercy ministering to the sick, consoling the bereaved, 
soothing the dying, and arraying for the grave the 
forsaken corpse; they walked about by night as by 
day; nor needed an attendant, however thronged the 
passage or dark the night; they moved with as much 
security even amid ruffians, as if they had moved among 
the angels of God — no fear that they should be assaulted 
or even insulted. And what was the security? Not that 
a pall hung over the city — not that every pillow was 
pressed by the dying and every coffin filled with the 
dead; for, in seasons of appalling, overwhelming calam- 
ity, human depravity often breaks forth in its wildest 
form — the son has been seen playing a jewsharp on the 
bier of his father, and hearses have run races to the 
grave, and men have robbed the orphan, and the widow, 
and the dead — no; their security was their goodness, 
which can disarm even the madness of wickedness. 

Every man has an interest in the rising generation. 
It ought to be his chief care to protect it. How shall 
he do this ? All may be summed up in one expression — 
impart good character. But how shall this be done? 
Partly by good domestic training, partly by good common 
school and academical instruction and discipline, partly 
by ecclesiastical teaching and influences; but not wholly 
by all these together. Something must be done for 
your neighbor's children. If you would know whether 
your son is to swear, you may have to inquire concern- 



208 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

ing the son of even the meanest and obscurest of your 
neighbors. When does a boy learn his first oath? 
While he is scarce able to go beyond his father's garden, 
and knows no distinction between his companions, and 
has no guide in his little journeys but his careless 
nurse. If you would know whether he is likely to grow 
up vain, and frivolous, and foppish, you must ask what 
is the character of the young men around you; if you 
would know whether he is to be an idle, pleasure-seeking 
spendthrift, ask whether the young ladies of the vicin- 
age are so ; if you would know whether he is to be a 
sensual profligate, you may have to ask even the vilest 
of the vile that walk your streets in gay apparel. 

Such is the connection between the different parts of 
society, that if a man would protect himself he must 
protect others, and if he would save his own offspring 
he must concern himself for the offspring of his neigh- 
bors. Adjacent to the lot on which I live is a vacant 
piece of ground overgrown with Canada thistles. Hav- 
ing in vain solicited the owner to cut them down, I cut 
them down myself: thus I prevented them from going 
to seed and overspreading my own grounds. I shall 
continue to do so till I root them out. I do this for my 
own protection. Well, there are thistles much more to 
be feared. If you would not have your own spiritual 
garden overgrown you must see to those near you. Many 
there are all absorbed in efforts to cultivate their own 
inclosures; they plant the pomegranate and the dahlia, 
the myrtle and the vine, and sing, " Awake, north 
wind, and come thou south : blow upon my garden, that 
the spices thereof may flow out." But when the flowers 
are on the earth and the time of the singing of birds is 
come, instead of lilies there come up thorns, and 
instead of myrtles thistles, and when the owner looketh 
for sweet grapes, lo! sour ones. The care should have 



DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 209 

extended to the neighboring hill-side, whence the winds 
blew upon the cultivated spot. 

Suppose the cholera appear among us next summer, 
and suppose we could be assured that cleanliness is a 
prophylactic, it would avail you not to cleanse every 
apartment and every vessel on your premises unless your 
neighbors were to do likewise. From some drain, or 
stable, or aviary of an adjacent street might be gen- 
erated the pestilential malaria, which might be borne 
upon the passing breeze to your trim kitchen and burn- 
ished vessels. 

So the principles and feelings of your fellows consti- 
tute a moral atmosphere which you and your children 
must breathe, and from some neglected family may arise 
the virus that shall spread corruption through the hearts 
of your best beloved. Had you resided at Erie when 
the railroad bridges were destroyed, think you that you 
could have prevented your children from breathing a 
mob spirit? No; if you had shut them up they would 
have caught the enthusiasm through the windows^ as 
their youthful companions marched the streets with 
sham cockades, floating their little red banners inscribed, 
" Six foot and bridges, four foot ten and no bridges V 

The connections of society are sufficiently intimate 
every-where ; they are particularly so in this country, 
where there are neither castes, nor entails, nor titles; 
where the rich of to-day may be the poor of to-morrow; 
where the miser may leave a widow to marry the man 
whom he despises, or a daughter to become the wife of 
one whom he would not set with the dogs of his flock. 
Even while you enjoy distinction and Wealth, you and 
yours must mingle with others less favored; must meet 
them in the market, and church, and town-hall, and 
meet them as equals ; must travel with them in the 
same coach, or steamboat, or car, and travel with them 

18 



210 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS, 

as equals; must meet them at the jury-box and the 
poll-box, and meet them as peers, receiving as well as 
imparting influence. Further, rich and poor meet in 
the same school, and read the same books, and pam- 
phlets, and papers; and, as the poor are the many, and 
the many determine the character of the press, you per- 
ceive how important for yourself that they should be 
wise and pure. Men may sit together and yet be far 
apart, one having a soul groveling in sensuality, the 
other a spirit afar off on the isles of Greece or among 
the prophets of Judah. Irelat in the Chamber of Peers 
said, "We do not feel alike, we do not use the same lan- 
guage; the land we inhabit, humanity itself, its laws, its 
requirements, duty, religion, the sciences, the arts, all 
that constitutes society — heaven, earth — nothing appears 
to us in the same light that it does to you." On the 
other hand, they may be separated physically yet be 
near spiritually, if they dwell upon the same themes 
and thrill with the same emotions. Vain to hope that 
you have saved your son merely because you have 
hedged him round by day with books, and fashion, and 
company, and by night with brick and mortar, if his 
soul has been seized and mastered by some demon. How 
many have been ruined by some vile acquaintance of 
early life; how many have been haunted by devilish 
sentences and images drawn upon the walls of memory, 
when it was peculiarly impressible, and standing out with 
appalling vividness, when the mind was enfeebled by 
disease or approaching through the gates of death to a 
holy God, and when especially he would hide from them 
as from the flames of hell ! 0, the struggles, the deep 
and keen anguish, of a soul under such circumstances, 
when he would desire nothing but pure thoughts to 
breathe into the ears of friends, and wife, and chil- 
dren, and make his last impression upon a world that he 



DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 211 

is leaving forever and prepare for the worship and song 
of heaven ! 

We read in the Living Age, in substance, the follow- 
ing narrative : A gentleman stepped into an English 
railroad-car, in which there was but a single person; 
the train was soon under way, when he discovered that 
his fellow-traveler stared upon him with fiery eyes, and 
became very uneasy, moving his limbs impatiently, 
peering anxiously out of the windows, staring at the 
wheels, and changing his seat frequently in manifest 
excitement. The train was an express, and rushing on- 
ward at utmost speed, nor destined to stop till the city 
was reached. Presently the gentleman found his wild 
fellow-traveler upon him with a long sharp knife, saying, 
in the manner of a maniac, i{ I am going to kill you!" 
A death-struggle began; the assailed man attempted to 
disarm the assailant, who seemed to possess superhuman 
strength. He could not escape ; he shrieked for help, 
but his cries were drowned by wheels and steam, though 
hundreds were moving with him before and behind. 
The glittering blade moved hither and thither with 
frenzied force about the struggling man, who, gashed 
and bleeding, was dreading each blow as the fatal one. 
At length he wrested the knife from the maniac's hand 
and threw it out of the window. He was now seized at 
his throat as by an enraged tiger; but, by a desperate 
effort, he threw his assailant; and, placing his knee 
upon his breast, held his hands, every moment, however, 
growing weaker from loss of the blood which poured 
from his open wounds as the maniac writhed in frantic 
efforts beneath him. what a condition ! The past and 
future come up in that moment as in panorama — the 
light of life seems to fade away and the body to dissolve 
in its supernatural struggles; but, as the train slackened 
its speed, hope revived; and, as he made his last effort 



212 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

for life, the door opened and he was saved. This is but 
a faint emblem of the soul overmastered by some sin- 
ful habit, or haunted by some devilish association, in- 
wrought in its very being, and standing out in bolder 
and bolder relief as the powers of life sink. The earth 
rolls on, the wheels of commerce rattle through the 
streets, friends smile before and behind, but no one sees 
the conflict, no one can give relief but God. 

We must reform men for our own political protection. 
The bad are the many; the many make the laws, and 
choose the officers by whom they are to be both inter- 
preted and executed. The good are embarked with the 
rest in the ship of state, and are to share the same po- 
litical destiny; how important that they should commu- 
nicate to the fellow-passengers their own knowledge and 
virtue — the only means of securing a suitable captain, 
pilot, and helmsman, and avoiding the rocks and quick- 
sands of the coast! In most governments power is 
stealing from the many to the few — in ours, from the 
few to the many. In this there is no harm ; but there 
is something farther — a tendency to remove all restraints 
from the people. Although a republican, both in feel- 
ing and philosophy, I look with alarm upon this tend- 
ency, which has exhibited itself in nearly all the polit- 
ical changes that have occurred since the organization 
of the government. Liberty depends not upon the num- 
ber who govern, but upon the restraints which are 
thrown around the rulers. An unlimited democracy is 
as much to be dreaded as an unlimited monarchy; per- 
haps even more, as it is affords less hope of relief. Our 
only salvation from anarchy on one hand or despotism 
on the other, is in the elevation of the masses; and this 
is to be accomplished by means of their superiors, just 
as a barbarous nation is civilized or a civilized nation 
enlightened — by colonies from a nation in advance of it. 



DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 213 

"If/' said Daniel Webster to a friend, "religious books 
are not widely circulated among the masses in this 
country, and the people do not become religious, I do not 
know what is to become of the nation. " 

I proceed to remark, that a proper consideration 
of the masses promotes our prosperity. So intimately 
blended are the temporal interests of men that a gain 
to one is a gain to all — a loss to one is a loss to all. Who 
does not perceive that a fire which would destroy one- 
half of this city would injure the remainder, or that 
the addition of a million dollars to the fortune of one 
of its inhabitants would be a pecuniary benefit to all 
the rest? The more capital a man has the louder his 
call for laborers, and the louder the call for laborers the 
higher their wages rise, and a rise of wages in one de- 
partment is followed by a rise in others. To relieve the 
sickness, to encourage the hearts, to quicken the indus- 
try, to enlighten the minds, to correct the habits of our 
neighbors is to add property to every household in the 
neighborhood; negatively, by diminishing the taxes; pos- 
itively, by increasing the resources of the country. And 
this is no difficult task ; where poverty is owing to mis- 
fortune, nothing is wanting but temporary relief; where 
it is the result of idleness, or intemperance, or any 
other vicious habit, still, we should labor with courage 
and hope. The reforms of the age are sufficient to 
animate every philanthropist, and the promises of the 
Gospel to stimulate every Christian. The increased 
facilities for beneficence and the increased light which 
has been thrown upon the subject, the multiplication of 
good books and the cheapness of innocent pleasures, are 
enough to silence every cynic. What though habit have 
power, and nature be depraved, and the majority be 
evil, and the way of death be downhill, still God, and 
Christ, and truth, and reason are on the good man's side. 



214 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

The increased pecuniary prosperity resulting from the 
elevation of the masses is nothing compared with the 
increased intellectual advancement of the country. Who 
that reflects upon the nature and capacities of a human 
soul, can look over the immense fields of undeveloped 
intellect even in our own country without melancholy 
and regret ! What a gloomy sight is a man bound hand 
and foot, and confined to a dungeon year after year, never 
enjoying the light of day, or the green of earth, or the 
fragrance of air, or the freshness of ocean ! Far more 
mournful an object is ah immortal mind blindfolded in 
a universe of glorious thought, neither enjoying the 
beauty of the intellectual world nor contributing aught 
to its cultivation; storing with folly a memory which 
should be a magazine of truth; dragging in the mire 
of sensuality the wings of an imagination that should 
soar like the eagle, and giving up that reason to grovel 
which might walk, like Newton's, among the stars. He 
who goes forth to open the prison-doors of mind, unbind 
the captives, and let oppressed souls go free, shall have 
his reward. By teaching he himself shall learn; his 
information will become at once more accurate, more ex- 
tensive, and more readily applied; his mental habits will 
be improved, especially his habits of attention, investiga- 
tion, and speech, while his knowledge of human nature 
will be vastly enlarged. This improvement in himself 
will be communicated to his friends, who will hang 
with delight upon his lips, and insensibly catch his 
habits of disciplined thought, accurate expression, and 
chastened feeling. Much of every man's knowledge is 
vague, because he does not impart it; few, indeed, mas- 
ter a subject without first having a desire to communi- 
cate it. Hence, no minds are more rapidly improving 
than those of teachers. If the Sabbath school were of 
no service to the pupils, it would nevertheless be an un- 



DUTY OP BENEVOLENCE. 215 

speakable blessing to the Church, by training up the 
teachers to adorn in future the pulpit, the bar, the halls 
of legislation, and the fields of missions. This personal 
improvement is a first fruit of an effort to enlighten 
others; but the secondary efforts, who shall describe? 
When the whole mass of our mind shall be exalted and 
purified, how many epics like Milton's, how many elegies 
like Gray's, how many lyrics like Watts's; how many 
Burkes, and Ghathams, and Shakspeares, and Scotts, and 
Websters, and Clays shall arise ! and how many forms 
of genius hitherto unknown shall burst forth ! God is 
not weary, time is not unfruitful, the forms of beauty 
are not exhausted. Indeed, we have but begun to learn 
the power of the human mind or to realize its high 
achievement. We have but begun to cultivate the sci- 
ences. In geology one thing answers to another; so in 
Scripture, so in chemistry, so in every thing. The 
brightest fields of knowledge have many dark regions. 
When the mind of the whole earth shall awake, and its 
various parts shall exert a mutual influence upon each 
other, and compare their several discoveries, what a 
change will come over the face of science! God has 
probably stamped a peculiarity upon each mind; for this 
peculiarity there is an object, and perhaps the full tri- 
umphs of humanity can never be achieved till all these 
objects are compassed. It requires the seven colors of 
the prism to make one perfect ray of light; so it may 
take all the hues of mind to make one perfect ray of sci- 
ence. Malaysia and Africa, Australasia and Polynesia 
must unite with Asia, and Europe, and America; every 
class and every latitude must contribute its share of 
thought and research before the regions of science shall 
be flooded with a pure and perfect light. Hitherto we 
have enjoyed the labors of only a small part of the race, 
and that belonging mostly to a certain class of society 



216 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

reared under nearly the same influences. Hence, we have 
been reading in decomposed intellectual rays; some of 
the prismatic colors have been disproportionate, others 
absent, and, for aught we know, this may account for 
our disagreements. Be this as it may, we find that the 
wider the extent of mind by which science is cultivated 
the nearer are its watchmen to seeing eye to eye. 

Endless are the modes by which God puts men under 
bonds to improve each other. No man can make pro- 
ficiency in any art or science without having an immedi- 
ate interest in the improvement of those around him. 
If a man be a perfect musician, where can he best 
succeed in winning either fame or money by his skill ? 
where, but among those who have already some musical 
taste? Among the untutored Indians a mere dauber 
might attract more attention and receive more emolu- 
ment and praise for his coarse forms and glaring colors 
than a Kaphael, and a mere stone-cutter might pass for 
a greater genius than a Michael Angelo, and a spouter 
or a plagiarist win more golden opinions than a De- 
mosthenes. It is related that the Dey of Algiers once 
captured a vessel conveying a philosopher. He knew 
what to do with carpenters, masons, sailors, soldiers, but 
had no service for the wise man, till, reflecting that his 
habits were sedentary, he employed him in hatching 
chickens. To menial offices may every philosopher be 
doomed till he shall have thrown light around him. 
We are more or less dependent upon other minds for 
knowledge. It is impossible for any man to be great 
in more than one department; hence, a man the most 
eminent may be instructed in some things by almost 
any other; he may be taught by the mechanic, the 
sailor, the farmer, even the savage or the slave; for 
they observe nature, they observe man in aspects which 
he does not; they encounter dangers and meet emerg- 



DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 217 

encies, and possess useful facts and resources to which he 
is a stranger. The very inequalities in mind, like in- 
equalities in the earth's surface, may be of use. Sir 
Isaac Newton, it is said, scarce ever met with a man at 
whose feet he could not sit with profit and delight. 
Nothing that God has made, not even the meanest worm 
that crawls the earth, is not pregnant with instruction; 
so, transcendcntly, with man's immortal soul. There is 
scarce a discovery or invention to which many minds 
have not contributed their action. Take the steam-en- 
gine, for example. First, Hiero of Alexandria proposes 
to apply the mechanical agency of steam. Ages pass, 
and De Caus proposes to raise a column of water by its 
elastic force. Other ages pass before Lord Worcester 
publishes a description of a rude high-pressure engine. 
All this before the properties of vapor are unfolded. In 
1683 Moreland determines the numerical proportion in 
which water increases its volume when evaporated under 
the pressure of a single atmosphere. Next Pepin dis- 
covers the method of producing a vacuum; then Savoy, 
and Newcomen, and others apply the discovery to me- 
chanical purposes. In the middle of the eighteenth 
century Watt improves steam-engines, and observes the 
relative volumes of steam as commonly used in steam- 
engines, and the quantity of heat absorbed in evapora- 
tion and evolved in condensation. Black soon after makes 
his discoveries concerning latent heat, which explains 
the facts that Watts had recorded. Dalton shows the 
relations between the temperatures and pressures of the 
vapor of water throughout the common range of the 
thermometric scale. Marriotte next makes known his 
law, in virtue of which the pressure of all gases and 
vapors increases in proportion to their density at a given 
temperature. Then Guy Lussac discovers that all gases 
and vapors receive the same increase of pressure or 

19 



218 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

volume for each degree of temperature. Then come the 
important experiments of Prony, Arago, etc.; then the 
various improvements and applications of the engine; 
not only by such minds as Fitch and Fulton, but even in- 
ferior ones — one of the most important improvements 
being made by an ignorant boy. Thus the ancients and 
the moderns, the east and the west, the new world and 
the old, the young and the aged, the poor and the rich, 
the mechanic and the philosopher, all contribute, each 
in his own way, to the production of that great instru- 
ment of civilization — the steam-engine, which superficial 
minds regard as the production of our own times only. 

When the whole mind of any country shall be devel- 
oped and cultivated, and every farmer, and sailor, and 
carpenter, and man, and woman shall look with a dis- 
criminating and philosophic eye on nature, what discov- 
eries and inventions may be born in a day! With what 
ease shall each one earn the comforts of life, and with 
what abundance shall our rivers float ! For who needs to 
be told that in proportion to the intelligence of a people 
is industry rendered more productive? 

There is, however, something more than knowledge 
necessary to prosperity — virtue ; and this must be pro- 
moted by every good man. Labor in this depart- 
ment also is attended with its reward. In grace as in 
providence the " liberal soul shall be made fat." No 
man waxes stronger in faith, and hope, and charity than 
he who cultivates these graces in the hearts of others. 
Give and it shall be given to you in abundant compensa- 
tion. Indeed, every man must hold forth the word of 
life to others if he would not walk in darkness himself. 
As the miseries of some are allowed, that the benevo- 
lence of others may be cultivated, so the moral maladies 
of sinners may perhaps often be endured, that they may 
try the grace of Christians. Men generally address 



DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 219 

themselves to this duty with more reluctance than to any 
other, although it is at once more important, more easy, 
and more abundantly rewarded than all others. Let a 
man live virtuously, and he will generally find his fellow- 
men cheerful to listen to his admonitions, warnings, and 
reproofs. Although men in certain positions are pecu- 
liarly exposed to temptations, to intemperance and blas- 
phemy, yet they will often be found more open to convic- 
tion than the more refined, whose temptations to pride 
and infidelity present more powerful barriers against the 
Gospel. When the more humble are once converted, 
they are perhaps more likely to remain firm in faith. 

The late martyrs among us were both of the poorer 
class. I refer to the little Norwegian at Chicago, who 
was drowned because he refused to assist some older boys 
in robbing an orchard — he died a martyr to the ten com- 
mandments; and to the case which occurred in Wiscon- 
sin, where a boy about nine years of age was taken from 
the Orphan Asylum in Milwaukie, and adopted by a 
farmer in Marquette. He discovered criminal conduct 
on the part of his adopted mother, and mentioned it to 
another child, who communicated it to the guilty woman. 
She insisted that he should declare the statement false, 
and persuaded her husband to whip him till he should. 
The man proceeded to the task by procuring a bundle of 
rods, stripping the child, and suspending him by a cord 
to the rafters of the house, and whipping him at inter- 
vals for over two hours, till the blood ran through the 
floor below; stopping only to rest and interrogate the 
boy, who always replied in a firm, gentle, affectionate 
manner, "Pa, I told the truth, I can not tell a lie." 
When, at length, the poor little orphan hero was released, 
he threw his arms around the neck of his murderer, and 
sweetly kissing him, said, "Pa, I am so cold," and died 
with the words, "I can not tell a lie," upon his blessed 



220 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

lips. Such a case affords encouragement to every philan- 
thropist, to every parent ; it makes us feel that we belong 
to a noble race; that, though fallen, we have the elements 
of sublime heroism ; that, even in early life, they may be 
quickened and sanctified by grace; and that an unpro- 
tected orphan may defy the universe to drive him from 
the path of virtue. Neither rags, nor orphanage, nor 
misery, can obliterate the glorious powers of the soul. 
Lazarus, at the gate of Dives, among the dogs, was 
worthy the ministry of angels, and the mansions of par- 
adise. 

The work of beneficence promotes our happiness. It 
is in accordance with our nature. The gratification of 
any desire affords pleasure. See the unperverted youth ! 
how naturally does he communicate his knowledge and 
his emotions ! It is not till he has been repeatedly re- 
buked that his little tongue can be prevented from pour- 
ing forth his stores of information and his fountains of 
feeling upon all around him. So, too, he distributes his 
goods among his companions, and rejoices to be a bene- 
factor. When he beholds distress, he weeps, and would 
relieve; nor will he cease to weep with them that weep, 
or pity and relieve the suffering, till he shall have taken 
many lessons in the school of a selfish world. As to 
gratify desire within prescribed bounds is to receive en- 
joyment, so to smother it is to produce distress. 

The most dangerous and painful diseases of the body 
arise from suppressed secretions. So the most distress- 
ing maladies of the soul arise from suppressed sympa- 
thies. I can think of no more pitiable object than a 
miser. 

It places us in harmony with nature. God has made 
one thing to correspond with another, as sound to the 
ear, and the ear to sound. Where a proper relation sub- 
sists between corresponding objects, there is order, and, 



DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 221 

if the parts be sensitive, happiness. Providence has 
made intelligence for ignorance, and wealth for poverty, 
and health for sickness, and cheerfulness for discourage- 
ment; and in this world it is only when they are brought 
together that we have harmony. Moreover, nature is 
made upon a certain plan, and it is only by putting our- 
selves in the channel of her laws, that we can glide 
smoothly through the world. And what is the plan of 
nature? It is the plan of giving. The sun gives his 
rays constantly, generously, joyously; the ocean gives its 
vapors to the skies; the skies give their rains to the 
earth; the earth warms and waters each seed within her 
bosom, and sends it up in greenness and richness, and 
nourishes and cherishes it, that it may give bread to 
the eater. The animals give their strength and swiftness 
to man, or lay down their lives for his sake. There is 
no chest for hoarding in all God's works; no reservoir 
for saving sunbeams, or air, or rain-drops, or fountains. 
If the sun, or old ocean, or mother earth, should turn 
miser, we should soon have universal death. Salvation, 
too, is upon the plan of giving. God gives his Sotf, and 
Christ gives his life, and saints give themselves; and 
thus, opposite characters are brought together, and made 
mutual benefactors-; for, while the sinner is saved, the 
saint has a new diadem placed on his brow, and a new 
joy planted in his heart. The parts of the physical uni- 
verse are held together by a series of attractions : cohe- 
sive attraction, holding similar particles; chemical affin- 
ity, dissimilar ones; and gravitation, holding the planets 
in their spheres. If any one of these attractions were to 
cease, the world would crumble down, the universe fall to 
pieces. The disorders of the human race are all owing 
to the loss of moral attraction to each other and to 
God; the harmony and happiness of the race can be re- 
stored only by the recovery of the lost attractions. The 



222 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

predicted ages of prophetic song, for which the faithful 
yearn, are the ages when all classes of society shall dwell 
in mutual love. "The wolf also shall dwell with the 
lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and 
the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; 
and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the 
bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; 
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the suck- 
ing child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the 
weaned child shall put his hand on the cocatrice's den." 
The great object of our Savior's coming was to bring 
" on earth peace, good will to men ; and glory to God in 
the highest." And will not the consummation of this de- 
sign be a source of enjoyment? Yes. "The ransomed of 
the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and 
everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy 
and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." 

It brings us into sympathy with angels. They are 
happy ; and to sympathize with them, is to enter into 
their joy. And how are they employed? They have 
charge over saints, lest they dash their foot against a stone ; 
they attend the cradles of slumbering infants. Are they 
not all ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation? 

It brings us into sympathy with Christ. "Ye know 
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was 
rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that ye through 
his poverty might be rich." Look, then, unto Jesus, the 
author and finisher of your faith ; who, instead of the 
joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising 
the shame. And wherefore? "Christ also suffered for 
us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his 
steps." He who lived to bless mankind, and died to 
save them, will say in the last day, " Forasmuch as ye 
did it unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto 
me." 



DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 223 

It brings us into sympathy with God. "Love your en- 
emies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that 
hate you. and pray for them that despitefully use you:" 
and a fortiori for all others; "that ye may be the chil- 
dren of your Father in heaven; for he maketh his sun 
to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on 
the just and on the unjust/' "Beloved, let us love one 
another, for love is of God; and every one that loveth is 
born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not 
knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was mani- 
fested the love of God toward us, because that God sent 
his only-begotten 3bn into the world, that we might live 
through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, 
but that he loved us. and sent his Son to be the propitia- 
tion for our sins." 

Suppose a father have two sons who have violated their 
obligations to him, and have righteously been banished 
from his house; and suppose that one fall upon his knees 
before his father, and sue for the pardon of his brother, 
saying, "0, my father, let thy wrath fall upon me rather 
than him; let me alone be banished; I can bear the 
thought of suffering myself, but 0, restore my brother." 
What surer route could he take to his father's heart? 
So, when the saint, like Moses, stands pleading for the 
rebellious; when, like Paul, he has great heaviness, and 
continual sorrow for his brethren, then does he most 
truly sympathize with God, and, paradoxical as it may 
appear, drink purest, deepest joy. 

When the skeptic charges upon Christianity that it is 
not sufficiently sober and practical; that in its zeal for 
the soul, it neglects the body; in its concern for eternity, 
forgets time, he shows that he does not understand his 
business. And how many, alas, do not! When Dr. 
Priestly was in France, he tells us that he met infidels 
in the highest circles of the kingdom — even profound 



224 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

statesmen and philosophers — who knew no more what 
Christianity is than an unintelligent Mohammedan or pa- 
gan. Christianity must be tried by Christ. He went 
about doing good; he healed the sick, cleansed the leper, 
gave sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf, and 
comfort to the distressed. See him on the cross — he 
treads the wine-press of Jehovah's wrath; he cries, in 
the mysterious darkness, "My soul is exceeding sorrow- 
ful, even unto death. " He looks forward to the ages to 
come, and sees the travail of his soul; and onward to the 
hights of the redeemed in heaven ; but not all these de- 
pressing or sublime considerations render him insensible, 
even to the bodily safety and temporal comfort of those 
around him. He turns his dying eye upon his mother. 
Methinks I hear him say, " You nursed me tenderly in 
infancy; you watched over me affectionately in youth; 
you have attended me faithfully in maturer years; when 
men have denounced me, you have blessed me; when 
apostles have forsaken me, you have followed me; and 
now that I am dying on the cross, thou weepest at my 
feet. A little while and they will lay me in the sepul- 
cher, and you will weep for me. I have no money, no 
habitation, to bequeath you; for though the foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the air have nests, the Son of 
man hath not where to lay his head; but I have a friend, 
and you will need a son; there he stands. " "John, I 
have loved you, and you have loved me; we have taken 
sweet counsel together; we have prayed, and suffered, and 
sympathized together. You have laid in my bosom, and 
I have loved you as I have loved no other. I have no 
fortune to leave you, but there is a precious legacy — a 
memento of friendship; there is my mother. Mother, 
behold thy son." Would you sympathize with Jesus; 
would you enter into the joy of your Lord, do good. 
Men who regard religion as something not provable are 



DUTY OF BENEVOLENCE. 225 

mistaken. The law we have been considering is just as 
easily and clearly proved to be a law of the universe as 
the • law of gravitation, and by an analogous process. 
Such persons are wont, if they give at all, to do so merely 
to save appearances. 

A man, whom I asked the other day for a subscription 
to the Bethel cause, said, "It is nothing to me; I do not 
care if the whole lake shore were to sink into hell f yet, 
that man has large investments in railroad stocks. I 
needed but to ask him what would become of his stock, 
if such was the terminus of his road. 

If you ask a subscription of such a man, for the refor- 
mation of poor families, he will probably say, "I have 
enough to take care of my own, let others take care of 
theirs." Alas! what folly! This is the folly which de- 
stroys by the thousand; which opens saloons, and tramples 
down Sabbaths, and closes churches. You love your 
children; you would do any thing to save their lives; 
yet you suffer their souls to be seized. Better that your 
son, while yet innocent and lovely, be seized and stabbed, 
and handed back to you a corpse, than enticed, and re- 
turned to you a drunkard or a debauchee. 

We read of an Indian mother who carried her dead 
child day after day over the frozen earth, and suspended 
it night after night upon the tree beneath which she slept, 
because she could find no place to bury it. But better 
bear your child in the coffin through the streets, day by 
day, and sleep with it every night, than to bear him year 
after year in the form of a living being, but with a cold 
and putrescent soul. 

Why is mother Church strong ? With all her despot- 
ism she is mighty, even in republics; with all her cor- 
ruptions she is strong, even in the midst of Protestant- 
ism; and with all her follies and legends she is venera- 
ble, even in enlightened lands. Her chief power is in 



226 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

her eleemosynary institutions. Long as her sisters of 
charity stand at the pillows of suffering, and her brothers 
of mercy give sight to the blind, and strength to the 
feeble, she will have power with men. 

Let Protestantism show her superior light by her supe- 
rior love; let her strive to excel in good works; to mul- 
tiply her Howards and her Oberlins; to follow more closely 
the Savior's footsteps; to breathe more of his spirit; to 
exhibit his self-denial, and his self-sacrifice; to enter into 
communion with his sufferings; to "put on charity," 
that survivor of all other graces, that bond of perfect- 
ness, that girdle of the universe. 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 227 



lUIigifftts <£mhnunt. 

EXCITEMENT is agitation; religion is returning to 
God. 

Excitement must be distinguished from fanaticism. 
The latter term was originally applied to the priests of 
ancient temples, and subsequently to all those who tar- 
ried ill the place of heathen worship, and engaged in 
extravagant acts of devotion, such as cutting themselves 
with knives. It has been applied in modern times to 
the anabaptists of Germany, and the Shakers of our own 
country and times; and generally to those who, in relig- 
ious matters, disregard reason and Scripture, and ; influ- 
enced by feelings, run into the wildest opinions. 

It should be distinguished from superstition. "This is 
from superstitio, and is applied to idolatrous worship, 
vain fears, extravagant and misdirected devotion, or the 
observance of unnecessary and uncommanded rites or 
practices in religion. It may describe the abominations 
of Juggernaut; the vain reliance of the formalist; the 
follies of witchcraft, or the mummeries of Romanism. It 
rests upon no authority; religious ardor is roused by 
Divine truth. Enthusiasm is from two Greek words, ** 
and 6so$. It is applied to a mental transport, which 
leads its possessor to imagine himself inspired. Religious 
excitement differs from enthusiasm in this, that the emo- 
tion which attends it is genuine and rational. The dis- 
tinction may be drawn very clearly in the results. The 
one is consistent with revelation, the other is not; the one 



228 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

leads to humility, rational devotion, and holy action, the 
other to pride, irrational worship, and an erratic career. 

Religious excitement implies excitement of reason. 
Reason is intimately concerned in religion; in the exam- 
ination of its evidences, its doctrines, its precepts, and 
its tendencies. Although the Bible is perfect in wisdom, 
sublime in doctrine, pure in precept, and holy in influen- 
ces, and addresses itself to our present and eternal wel- 
fare, it is not likely to engage attention without some 
degree of excitement. As man is fallen, the objects of 
sense withdraw attention from those of faith, and passion 
shrinks from influences which would bind it with appro- 
priate restraints; while the career of transgression cre- 
ates perpetually-increasing aversion to law. Hence, al- 
though the truths of religion are familiar to all the sub- 
jects of Christendom, there are millions within her pale 
upon whom they exert no saving influence. Neverthe- 
less, the Bible has not lost its power to affect the soul ; 
for though, when a man walks with his back to the sun 
of revelation, and sees the light only by reflection, he 
can pass his days without thinking of the orb that lights 
his path, yet, when he turns around, and directs his eye 
upon the moral heavens, he is made to think of the great 
Source of light. The apathy of the mass on religious 
subjects is owing to inattention. Now, to attract the 
reason, we may appeal to her satellites. 

Religious excitement implies excitement of the imag- 
ination. There was a time when reason was driven from 
devotion ; now, some would banish every thing hut rea- 
son. 

Imagination is to be utterly excommunicated from the 
temple; a cheerless philosophy is to impress her taste- 
less spirit upon the holy place ; a spiritless logic is to dis- 
course from the pulpit in cold syllogisms, and no light is 
to issue from the altar but the sparks from flinty intellect. 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 229 

It must be conceded that imagination, when unsanctified, 
is an instrument of mischief, and has often obscured the 
truth; but in her proper sphere she is the handmaid of 
reason, going before her to the temple of knowledge, and 
lighting a lamp in her interior apartments. Without it, 
reason might still be a monarch, but she would sit upon 
an idle throne. It is imagination that spreads a charm 
over the world of truth; that strews her fields with flow- 
ers; that breaks her surface into mountains and vales, 
investing all her scenes with beauty, novelty, or grand- 
eur; and arouses, engages, and leads forward the intel- 
lect. Reason may prepare the elements of conviction, 
but imagination is best suited to convey them to the 
heart. It is especially necessary in the pulpit. This fac- 
ulty is more ardent in youth than in age ; in the ruder 
periods of society, than in the more refined; in the 
lower paths than in the higher walks of life. Though 
charming to every class, its services may be dispensed 
with in the chair of philosophy; but in the pulpit, 
which is concerned with the mass of mankind, it is indis- 
pensable. It is a wonderful error which leads some to 
suppose that ornamented composition is not plain. What 
can be more plain than the language of Tecumseh or of 
Homer; yet what more richly decorated ! How simple, 
and yet how rich, is that splendid specimen of our Sav- 
ior's style — his sermon on the mount ! Every- where it 
glitters; the robes of Solomon, the lily of the valley, and 
similar images, invest it with alluring graces. What 
work is more plain than the Bible, and where is beauty 
more engaging, novelty more charming, or sublimity 
like unto hers! It was imagination that made Apollos 
like a sweet-toned lyre, and Peter like a thunderbolt; yet 
probably both were plain. 

It not only engages attention, but impresses the mem- 
ory. Though a man may forget the deductions of his 



230 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

reason, he rarely fails to remember the images of his 
fancy. The play once heard will never be forgotten, but 
the lecture thrice repeated may vanish as the morning dew. 

It aids faith. By filling up the outlines of history, 
imagination makes the past like the present. As with 
the wand of Endor's witch, she conjures from the man- 
sions of the dead the moving, speaking images of life, 
and spreads around us scenes which have long since van- 
ished from the earth. Breathing upon the cold forms of 
truth, she warms and animates them, and makes us feel 
their presence and their power. Imagination fills the 
soul with sympathy, and is necessary both to enable us to 
act upon the golden rule, and feel the powers of the 
world to come. The fact that this faculty is pernicious 
when emancipated from the control of reason and virtue, 
is no argument against its judicious employment. Who 
would cut off his feet because, when they run in the way 
to death, they bring him to pain and sorrow ? 

Religious excitement implies excitement of the feel- 
ings. There are few occasions on which men assemble 
when it is not proper to appeal to some passion. Even 
when sober age presides; when mature reason deliber- 
ates; when questions of fact or of expediency are the 
subjects of discussion, feeling may at times be aroused. 
The hoary senate is occasionally convulsed with the most 
terrific storms of passion, and struck by thunderbolts of 
sublimest eloquence. That the preacher may appeal to 
the feelings is evident from the object of the pulpit. 
The purposes of preaching are the following: conviction, 
instruction, and persuasion. Although conviction and 
instruction may, to a certain extent, be aimed at in every 
sermon, and on some occasions the one or the other may 
be the primary object of pulpit discussion, yet, since 
there are few persons in Christendom who are skeptical, 
and fewer still who are ignorant of the fundamental 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 231 

truths of religion, the chief object of the sacred desk is 
persuasion. This can not be effected without an appeal 
to the feelings. To persuade, two things are necessary; 
namely, to show that certain means will accomplish a 
certain end, and that such end is desirable. The first is to 
be accomplished by an address to the reason ; the second 
by an appeal to the heart. To attempt to persuade by 
either means alone, must be fruitless labor. And yet, 
there are some who introduce their sermons in this man- 
ner. I appeal to your reason, not to your passions. So 
far from desiring to raise excitement, I warn you against 
it, and seek to persuade you by sheer logic. If such an 
exordium is founded on the laws of the soul, the pro- 
foundest philosophers of every age and nation have been 
in egregious error. They have denominated the passions 
the active principles of our nature. And why? because 
they only can move the will. As authority is not to be 
disregarded on a question of this kind, hear Dr. Camp- 
bell. I need hardly say that no higher authority can be 
cited. I quote from his Philosophy of Rhetoric, a 
work at once profound and beautiful : 

u To say that it is possible to persuade without speak- 
ing to the passions, is but, at best, a kind of specious 
nonsense. The coolest reasoner always, in persuading, 
addresseth himself to the passions some way or other. 
This he can not avoid doing if he speak to the purpose. 
To make me believe, it is enough to show me that things 
are so. To make me act, it is necessary to show that the 
actions will answer some end. That can never be an end 
to me which gratifies no passion or affection in my 
nature. " 

Dr. Whately, a distinguished logician, and an archbishop 
in a Church, surely not inclined to fanaticism, speaking 
of an address to the feelings, uses the following lan- 
guage : "This is usually stigmatized as an address to the 



232 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

passions instead of the reason; as if reason alone could 
ever influence the will and operate as a motive, which it 
no more can, than the eyes which show a man his road, 
can enable him to move from place to place; or, than a 
ship provided with a compass, can sail without a wind." 

I may, perhaps, be asked if there are no counter au- 
thorities ? I frankly admit that Aristotle, the father of 
logic and rhetoric, condemns appeals to the passions as 
an unfair mode of influencing the reason. But, when 
properly understood, his views are coincident with those 
of the authorities already cited. He was too great a phi- 
losopher not to understand the great principle, that no 
man can be moved without an appeal to his heart. 
When he condemns appeals to the passions, he means 
passions which ought never to be excited, or which are 
unsuitable to the occasion. 

Had man a pure intellect, a religion of simple contem- 
plation might be suitable to him. But he has a heart as 
well as a head; and the heart is the spring, both of his 
enjoyment and his suffering. Any religion that does not 
purify and sweeten this fountain, must leave him a cor- 
rupt and miserable being. The Scriptures teach that, 
" from within, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, 
murders," etc. Hence the declaration, " Except a man 
be born again," etc. 

Experience teaches, that avarice, ambition, pride, 
or some similar emotion produces constant disquiet in 
the unregenerated heart. An influence is needed to 
chain and expel these passions. Can this be done with- 
out conflict? 

Religion consists of two things — feeling and action ; 
the latter is the result of the former — feeling is the 
basis of all true piety. The great requisition of the 
Gospel is, repent and believe. Can a man repent with- 
out emotion? and what is evangelical faith but feeling? 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 233 

It is not mere assent; it implies confidence and reliance. 
What are the beatitudes? Poverty of spirit, holy mourn- 
ing, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, mercy, 
purity of heart. And what are these but feelings? 
The apostle Paul describes the fruits of the Spirit thus : 
" Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, 
faith, meekness, temperance," or moderation. If these 
are not to be found in the heart, where shall we look for 
them ? The Psalms, which embody the devotions of all 
ages, abound in such expressions as these : " Whom have 
I in heaven but thee?" etc.; "0, Lord, I will praise 
thee," etc.; u As the hart panteth," etc. 

Religion is summed up in one great command — " Love 
to G-od and love to man." Love is stronger than death. 
And why should there not be feeling in religion ? there 
is feeling in every thing else. Politicians are allowed 
feeling. They kindle the whole land into a furnace 
at the eve of an election. Philosophers are allowed 
feeling. When Archimedes found out a method of de- 
termining the value of Hiero's crown he rushed naked 
from the bath, and cried through the streets of the city, 
"I have found it, I have found it P' And when a man 
finds out the means of procuring an eternal crown in 
heaven, must he be still ? When Newton was about to 
reveal the laws of the heavens, he was so overcome that 
he was obliged to call upon a friend to complete the 
demonstration. And shall we who look into the laws 
of the upper sky be contemned if we faint at the over- 
powering contemplation ? The warrior who gains a bat- 
tle is allowed to shout; but what are the triumphs of 
the warrior to the conversion of a sinner? Standing in 
the sunlight of Divine favor, the Christian occupies an 
eminence from which he can look down on all the 
glories of earth. Show him Hannibal surmounting the 
Alps, or Alexander conquering the world; he feels that 

20 



234 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

he lias accomplished that in reference to himself, which 
is incomparably superior to all the victories of earth's 
battle-fields. The victor of earth and the conqueror of 
hell, he stands in waiting for the laurels of heaven. 
If the mother snatches her babe from the flames she 
rejoices like a maniac, and no one checks the expression 
of her joy. When she receives her son from the verge 
of hell, must she be hushed or stigmatized if she should 
cry aloud ? There is nothing which is so well calculated 
as the Bible to animate a sluggish sinner. It opens a 
new region of truth ; it bears the soul into the heavens , 
brings it to the meditations of angels and the counsels 
of the eternal Mind. It stands amid human productions 
as Mt. Sinai in the desert, grand, amazing, charged with 
terrific truth. We have seen the man of sleepy intel- 
lect, whom nothing could awake to a sense of his powers, 
rouse himself suddenly, as St. Peter when struck by 
the angel, and start upon an ascending path of truth 
with a swiftness and nerve worthy a new-made child of 
light. 

Go to the darkest abodes of barbarism, where an all- 
penetrating, all-pervading curse seems to have alighted 
on living men, and human heads are as a forest of life- 
less, rotten timber; where philosophy turns pale, and 
sickens, and retires. Let but the Bible be planted in 
the midst and the fatness of heaven descends, and the 
wilderness of mind buds and blossoms as the rose. 
How can an instrument of such power operate without 
affecting the heart? As well expect consuming fire to 
produce no feeling on the body, as the revelation of a 
holy God to produce no feeling in the soul of the worker 
of iniquity. As well say that the gushing fountain of 
the desert can give no pleasure to the thirsty traveler, 
as that the water of life can not revive the Christian's 
fainting spirit. 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 235 

There are many utterances against an excitement of 
the animal passions. I do not know exactly what is 
meant by these fervent declamations. I presume we are 
to understand by the animal passions those which man 
has in common with the brute. It may be asked 
whether these feeliugs in man and in the brute are the 
same or similar, or merely analogous? Do they not, 
when placed in the human breast, undergo important 
modifications from their combination with the other ele- 
ments of humanity'/ Is the attachment of the horse 
for his fellows of the flock the same feeling as the love 
of man for his father and mother, wife and children ? 
Is not the former midway between the affinities of in- 
animate matter and the fellowship of man ; while the 
latter is midway between the fellowship of man and the 
communion of angels? Are not all our feelings more 
or less connected, and subject to influences from each 
other? We may classify emotions; but we should re- 
member that one heart elaborates them all. 

So we may speak of social feelings, and animal feel- 
ings, and religious emotions, yet that which pulsates in 
the bosom is a heart — a human heart. I know not but 
as one bodily organ may affect others, so the excitement 
of one feeling may be propagated to kindred ones. I 
dare not say that the love of God may not influence the 
love of father, mother, wife, or child, or that holiness 
to the Lord may not increase our proneness u to rejoice 
•with them that do rejoice and weep with them that 
weep." If it be said that the preacher should chiefly 
address the higher and religious emotions, and not the 
lower and social feeling, I admit the justice of the ob- 
servation, but am at a loss to perceive its necessity. 
While, however, I concede that animal feeling should 
not be directly addressed in the pulpit, I do not wish to 
be understood that there is no warmth in the religious 



236 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

affections. There are some who talk as though the de- 
votional feelings were a kind of moss, that grows only on 
the north side of the heart, but is never found adhering 
to its sunnier roots. We would not insinuate that these 
persons have less religion than their neighbors, but we 
regret that in avoiding the language of the equator they 
have caught that of the poles. 

It is affirmed that there are passions which ought never 
to be excited, such as envy, jealousy, etc. The assertion 
is admitted. But it would be difficult to show that be- 
cause one feeling ought not to be excited others must 
forever lie dormant. But is there any danger of ex- 
citing such emotions in the worshiping assembly? If 
you would find them in an excited state, you must leave 
the temple and enter the busy world; there, whether 
you go into the street, the market, the hall of mirth, the 
bar, or the senate, you shall meet them stimulated to 
the highest pitch. Would you find them crucified, you 
must return to the holy place — where, from intensely- 
excited hearts, the songs and prayers of Zion ascend the 
mercy-seat. 

There are some who insinuate that reason is discarded 
when passion is invoked. Though friendly to the latter, 
we are no enemies to the former; we would have them 
indissolubly wedded. We have already said that persua- 
sion is not to be accomplished without both. Indeed, 
we know not how to awaken religious feeling without 
reflection. Would you excite repentance, you must call 
up violated vows, perverted privileges, abused mercies, 
disregarded opportunities. Would you excite gratitude, 
you must spread before the soul the goodness, and for- 
bearance, and long-suffering of God. Would you excite 
faith, you must lead the sinner through the Gospel, 
through its doctrines, its promises, to its bleeding cross. 
Is there no reflection in all this, no comparison, no 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 237 

tracing of causes to effects? He who should excite 
repentance, faith, and holiness without reflection would 
work a miracle. The Holy Ghost itself, we have reason 
to believe, persuades by exciting the sinner's reflection. 
Frequent and grave cautions are given lest the pas- 
sions should warp the judgment. The feelings may 
indeed mislead the judgment; yet is not their influ- 
ence upon the reason vastly overrated? There is a 
disposition to ascribe to the strength of the passions 
what ought to be assigned to the weakness of the mind. 
Men value themselves more upon mental than moral 
excellences. This, however, is the result of delusion; 
for, since intellectual endowments are the gifts of nature, 
and moral goodness springs, under grace, from prayer 
and personal effort, if men deserve any credit for either, 
it must be for the latter. The delusion is readily ex- 
plained. As depravity is a universal fault of our nature, 
an unfortified heart does not sink a man below the 
common level of the race; but, as the intellect is gen- 
erally sound, folly is a rare infirmity, and hence a term 
of reproach. Therefore, pride inclines us to load the 
heart with errors not its own; and the mere fool at- 
tributes to his feelings a thousand faults which all 
around him ascribe to the weakness of his head. The 
errors into which our passions lead us appear compara- 
tively numerous, because they are all discovered. A 
man in times of political excitement attends with the 
eager crowd a political cabal; he hears appeals to his 
pride and his prejudices; and, in a kind of frenzy, he 
forms resolutions and performs actions which are evi- 
dently wrong. He returns home and resigns himself 
to sleep. When morning lifts his eyelids, he finds his 
passions have measurably subsided. He now sits down 
calmly to review the acts and resolutions of the previous 
night. His deliberate reason at once perceives and 



238 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

condemns his errors. But let him go the next evening 
to the lecture of the infidel. The sophists weave a net 
around his head and takes his reason captive. He re- 
tires to rest; and, when light returns, he finds himself 
in the same situation thab he was the preceding day. 
Conscious that the conclusions to which he has been 
led are monstrous, he sits down to re-examine them; but, 
as his heart can render him no assistance, and as his 
head has undergone no change, there is a strong pre- 
sumption that the sophistry which took him captive will 
hold him prisoner. True, he may call in a stronger 
mind to lead him out, but if he can not detect the soph- 
istry he will not be conscious of the bondage. More- 
over, pride does not allow us to resort to such an ex- 
pedient even where there is a strong presumption of 
error, especially when the error is pleasing to the soul. 

Where one is misled by his heart in religious matters 
there are thousands who are deluded by the head. The 
poor fanatic that riots in a paroxysm of the wildest 
frenzy is in a much more hopeful case than the proud, 
deluded infidel multitude that gaze with scorn upon his 
transports. The next morning may find him a reason- 
able being, and looking down on them kissing the chains 
of the wildest delusions. If there is any thing to be 
feared from the influence of the passions, why is there 
not some fear from avarice, and ambition, and pride, 
and the thousand forms of wicked feeling that hover 
around the circles of business, and pleasures, and all the 
haunts and amusements of busy men ? If in a wicked 
world there is danger that religious feeling may exert too 
much influence upon the reason, is there no danger 
from irreligious feeling? If affections that are rare, 
that require continual prayer and effort to be sustained, 
may warp the judgment, should not the passions that 
are natural, that ane ever active, that run wild and ram- 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 239 

pant over the human heart, and the sinful world, give 
some alarm ? But, granting that religious feeling may 
sometimes mislead, is that any reason why it should not 
be excited ? By parity of reasoning we might show 
that it is right to pluck out the eye. 

It is averred that religious excitement often leads to 
conduct that offends the taste of the world, violates the 
decorum of worship, treats the Almighty with irreverence, 
and grieves away the Holy Spirit. In regard to the first 
of these results, I do not know that Christians, in regu- 
lating their worship, are bound to consult the taste of a 
world that lieth in the wicked one. So far as this taste 
is molded on unsophisticated reason enlightened by 
Divine truth, it ought not to be disregarded; but there 
is reason to fear that, in seasons of religious awakening, 
the world's refined taste is molded on a philosophy which 
tends to quiet men in sin, rather than on a Gospel 
which demands repentance and reformation. I am not 
sure that if we consult the taste of the world, we should 
not hush all our songs, and stifle all our rejoicings, and 
even dispense with prayer and preaching. 

In reference to offenses against the decorum of worship, 
we are thankful to the world for their concern for the 
ark ; but we shall be still more so if they will not un- 
dertake to stay it. It is true that religious assemblies 
may offend against decorum, and when they do, the 
most discreet and pious Christians will be the first to 
give the alarm; but when the complaint comes from 
one unused to Zion's songs and Zion's raptures, we feel 
no disquietude. I know that Jehovah is a God of order; 
but may it not happen that what is order in the eyes of 
God maybe confusion to his enemies? The shouts of 
the victor's camp are confused noises to the vanquished. 

And now for the charge of irreverence; I fear it may 
sometimes be made with justice. Although we may 



240 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

come to the throne of grace with boldness, and address 
our Father in heaven as children, and lay hold on the 
promises with resistless faith, yet we should always 
stand in awe in the presence of the King of kings, and 
teach the praises which issue from adoring hearts to 
tremble on polluted lips. But who are they that are 
shocked? Are they those that stand upon the verge 
of heaven and watch with joy the coming of the Lord ? 
Then let us check our songs and bid our words be few. 
Or are they those who violate God's laws, or blaspheme 
his name, or trample under foot the blood of Christ, and 
set at naught a Saviors intercession, and do despite to* 
the Spirit's grace? Then let us pray on. The broken 
prayers, and sobs, and sighs, and shouts to which such 
object may be music in the ears of God. 

And is it true that religious excitement may give rise 
to scenes which may grieve away the Holy Spirit? It 
may be ; but while the soul is blessed we need not fear 
that we are in such scenes. Look at that altar; there 
bows the sinner, there sighs the mourner, there sings 
the saint, there prays the aged pilgrim; sobs, and 
groans, and shouts are heard, and intense excitement 
spreads from heart to heart. Presently the sinner that 
had wept and groaned rises and wipes his eyes, and 
bears delightful testimony that he beholds the Lamb of 
God that taketh away the sins of the world. He re- 
turns to his home, and gathers his family to tell with 
bounding heart the good tidings. He confesses with 
melting tenderness his unkindness and unfaithfulness; 
he mourns over lost opportunities and evil examples, 
and the neglected souls of wife and children, and with 
tears of penitence prays to be forgiven. He takes down 
the family Bible, opens to some beautiful psalm, sings a 
sweet song of Zion, bows with his weeping family at 
the mercv-seat, and, with strong cries and tears, com- 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 241 

mends them for the first time to the Father of mercies. 
The next day he seeks those whom he has offended, and 
his proud heart bows, and his haughty tongue confesses, 
and with weeping he is reconciled. He finds out whom 
he has injured, and gladly makes restitution. He enjoys 
the fruits of the Spirit, he breathes the temper of Jesus, 
he adorns the Christian profession, he glorifies God from 
day to day; and, after a long life of piety, he dies 
shouting hosannas to God and the Lamb. This is no 
unusual case. Now, one of two things must be admitted : 
either that souls are converted without Divine agency, 
or that the Holy Spirit, so far from being grieved away 
by what the world stigmatizes as excitement offensive 
to God, absolutely sanctions it. If you adopt the first, 
what are you but an infidel? if you persist that what the 
Holy Spirit sanctions is not the better plan, in what a 
fearful position do you stand ! The devil is the accuser 
of the brethren ; but whom do you accuse ? It will not 
answer to say that some earnest prayer may be put up 
in the midst of confusion, and that God is bound to 
answer genuine prayer, though it ascend in the midst 
of what he disapproves ; for it were easy to suspend 
the answer till a future moment, so that the blessing 
might not be associated with conduct which is unaccept- 
able. Will God be found in scenes which he abhors? 
To say that revivals of religion are sometimes at- 
tended with improprieties and errors is simply to say 
that man is human. It is the judicious remark of Dr. 
Baxter that "the work of God is divine, but our mode 
of dispensing it is human; and there is scarce any thing 
which we have the handling of but we leave on it the 
print of our fingers." But shall we do nothing because 
we can not stamp every thing we touch with perfection ? 
It is evident that when the adversary sees the Church 
in action he rouses himself for effort; and it may be 

21 



242 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

that lie often succeeds in time of revival by pushing 
men onward rather than by holding them back. But is 
this a reason why we should fear to offend him ? 

No revival of religion ever occurred which was not 
attended with some disorders. The glorious Reformation, 
which liberated and illuminated Europe, was attended 
with a variety of absurdities, and errors, and improprie- 
ties. The present age, however, which glories in the 
liberty and light that it inherits from the reformers, and 
which has almost forgotten the frantic disorders of those 
times, never even thinks of comparing the evils which 
accompanied the Reformation with the blessings of re- 
ligious freedom and illumination. 

Even the revivals of primitive Christianity, under the 
management of the apostles, were attended with their 
evils and improprieties, and were succeeded by a season 
of religious declension and apostasy. In attestation of 
this we may refer to the 14th chapter of 1st Corinthians. 
But who will lay any thing to the charge of God's apos- 
tles in relation to their plans of extending the Gospel? 

But it is said there is much spurious excitement 
That is true; but it forms no objection to what is gen 
uine. Nor is it difficult to distinguish between the true 
and the false. If an excitement is false it must be pro- 
duced without Divine agency, and the world can rouse 
it just as well as the Church. Let the world come 
forth ) we will give them all our appliances, we will per- 
mit them to see all our plans of operation ; and, if they 
can produce a similar result, we will pronounce our ex- 
citement false, and pray for pardon. But if it be of such 
a nature that the boldest rebel would not attempt the 
fearful experiment, we have strong reason to believe that 
it is genuine. 

If a further test be required, let this question be 
asked, Does the excitement lead its subjects to faith and 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 243 

obedience ? If so, then here may our inquiries cease, 
insinuations have sometimes been made that some Chris- 
tians substitute shouting and falling for repentance and 
faith. If there be such Christians I have yet to meet 
with them. The ministry of every Church with which I 
am acquainted, far from substituting excitement for obe- 
dience, earnestly deplore it when it is not connected with 
that result. Shouting and falling are but accidental ef- 
fects of a fervent worship. Suppose them to be unneces- 
sary inconveniences; are there no results equally deplor- 
able, to say the least, flowing from a frigid manner? And 
how exceedingly ungenerous and unjust should we be if 
we should insinuate that some Churches substitute gap- 
ing and sleeping for hope and charity ! 

But it is said that religious excitement often causes 
mental derangement. This is a mistake. Although ex- 
citement of a religious kind may sometimes result in this 
dreadful consequence, it does not often — such is not the 
tendency; not the tendency of the means by which it is 
produced. Religion consists of conviction, conversion, 
and holiness. What is the chief instrument of convic- 
tion ? The law of God. Is there any thing in this, more 
than in any other law, to produce mental alienation? 
Strange, indeed, if mortals can not look into the laws by 
which they are governed without danger of insanity. 
Did this law, when first issued from the hand of God, 
produce madness in the multitudes that stood trembling 
beneath the mount when the lightnings flashed, and the 
thunders pealed, and the summit smoked, and the earth 
shook? What is the nature of conviction? An awaken- 
ing of the conscience. But does the. conscience of the 
world never wake up? In the circles of amusement the 
conscience often speaks. Go to prisons, chain gangs, or 
the gallows, if you would be sure to find remorse. But 
there you will rarely meet with insanitv. What is it but 



244 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

remorse that heats the furnaces of hell ? Yet, the pit is 
no madhouse. When the three thousand, on the day of 
Pentecost, were pricked in their hearts — -an expression in- 
dicative of excruciating anguish — did all become derang- 
ed? or have we any intimation that even one ran mad? 

And how is conversion effected? By the Gospel of 
peace, the cross of Christ. What philosophy can show 
that this has a tendency to produce insanity? The tend- 
ency is the very reverse. What is the nature of con- 
version? It consists in a change of relation on the part 
of the sinner to God ; and is followed by a sense of par- 
don, peace, and joy. It tends to soothe and tranquilize 
the mind, to spread oil over the troubled waters of the 
heart. It is the voice of Jesus in the storm, saying, 
" Peace, be still." 

Holiness consists in a transferrence of affection from 
the world and sin, to God our Maker. Placing an animal 
in his native element will not throw him into disturbance; 
the removal of an unnatural stimulus, and the applica- 
tion of a natural excitant, will not cause disease. Can 
we imagine, therefore, that the placing of a soul in its 
proper sphere will occasion its derangement? So far as 
my experience goes, it is not so much religious excite- 
ment as the want of it — it is somber contemplation, 
rather than religious feeling; it is error, leading to false 
views, rather than truth exciting to obedience, that 
causes derangement of the mind. When religion brings 
gloom over the mind, it is often the treatment which the 
world prescribes for it that pushes it into insanity. 
Many cases of religious mania are traceable to other 
causes than religion. As when the harmony of health is 
disturbed, the organ most frequently excited first mani- 
fests disease; so, when the harmony of the mind is bro- 
ken, the string most frequently struck may be expected 
to break first. If an individual inclined to religious 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 245 

musing become insane, whatever may be the cause of de- 
rangement, his hallucination will probably^assume the 
form of religious monomania. The disease is often mis- 
taken for its cause. On this point Dr. Abercrombie says, 
"In regard to what have been called the moral causes of 
insanity, I suspect there has been a good deal of fallacy, 
arising from considering as a moral cause what was really 
a part of the disease. Thus, we find so many cases of 
insanity referred to religion, so many to love, so many to 
ambition, etc. But perhaps it may be doubted whether 
that which was in these cases considered as the cause 
was not rather, in many instances, a part of the halluci- 
nation. This, I think, applies, in a peculiar manner, to 
the subject of religion, which, by a common, but very 
loose way of speaking, is often mentioned as a cause of 
insanity. When there is a constitutional tendency to in- 
sanity or to melancholy — one of its leading modifica- 
tions — every subject is distorted to which the mind can 
be directed; and none more frequently or remarkably 
than the great question of religious belief. But this is 
the effect, not the cause ; and the frequency of this hal- 
lucination, and the various forms which it assumes, may 
be ascribed to the subject being one to which the minds 
~of all men are so naturally directed in one degree or 
another, and of which no man living can entirely divest 
himself. Even when the mind does give way under the 
influence of a great moral cause — such as overwhelming 
misfortune — we often find that the hallucination does not 
refer to it, but to something entirely different. Striking 
examples of this are mentioned by Pinel." (Inquiries 
concerning the Intellectual Powers, and the investigation 
of Truth, pages 238 and 239.) 

Why is it that a case of mania produced by religious 
excitement is matter of universal remark? Because 
religion, in the opinion of mankind, has no tendency to 



246 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

produce derangement, or to produce any thing bordering 
on derangen*ent even. 

A lawyer or a poet may derange himself by intense 
study, and rushing from his closet in a fit of insanity, 
may slaughter wife and children j yet the fact is barely 
announced. He is carried to the asylum, and his case 
rarely referred to again. A man goes to a political meet- 
ing, mixes with the giddy throng, breathes its enthusi- 
asm, and mingles his loud hurras with the deafening 
shouts of the multitude; but in the midst of his trans- 
port his reason fails, and he returns a maniac, rages a 
few weeks, and, dying, leaves a helpless wife and family 
to the charity of the world; and there is nothing said. 
Another departs to the west, wanders through the wilder- 
ness, and purchases a tract of land in hopes of making 
his fortune ; he sees villages and cities rise amid his 
swamps, as by the magic of Aladin's lamp; he fancies 
himself a prince, and returns a madman; and who won- 
ders? Another suffers a sudden reverse of fortune, re- 
signs himself to melancholy, and cuts his throat ; his 
friends pity and bury him, and that is all. But if, in a 
religious meeting, a man should lose his reason, the event 
is blazoned forth to the ends of the earth. Now, what is 
the inference? Simply this, that the love of the world, 
the excitement of politics, the reverses of fortune, etc., 
have a natural tendency to produce excitement, but that 
religion has no such influence. 

What feeling is so wide-spread, so intense, so perpet- 
ual, as the religious? it extends every-where, pervading 
alike every age, sex, and rank; and yet how few are the 
cases of religious mania ! Do the multiplication of re- 
vivals increase the number of the insane ? 

But suppose it be admitted that religious meetings 
have a tendency to produce insanity; are we authorized 
for that reason to suspend them? Let us for a moment 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 247 

compare the evil with the good. Grant that in a country 
where three thousand are hopefully converted, in the 
midst of a revival one becomes insane 5 who would have 
the hardihood to say that the loss or damage would, for 
one moment, bear comparison with the gain or the bless- 
edness? Does not insanity occur in persons constitution- 
ally predisposed to it? Who can say that the maniac 
would have remained sane had he never entered a relig- 
ious assembly? Who shall determine whether it was the 
truth, or resistance to it which produced the mischief? 
Who can say that the condition of the maniac is not bet- 
tered, even though he should never recover? Who shall 
estimate the joys of earth or heaven upon the conver- 
sion of his fellows, and the happiness to human hearts, 
the honor to Jesus, the glory to God, which will issue 
from the revival ? 

Because an excitement occasionally produces mental 
derangement, should we cease to pray for it ? Then let 
the throng abandon at once and forever the subject of 
politics; let the student retire from the closet, and the 
philosopher from the temple of nature ; let the merchant 
cease to buy and sell; finally, let busy men leave all their 
worldly pursuits, for there is not one which does not oc- 
casionally produce its maniacs. If God evidently favor 
an excitement, who shall bid it cease ? 'Tis enough if 
Heaven approve; we may safely leave results to Him who 
controls the moral, no less than the natural world. 

Let it be understood all along, that the excitement of 
which we speak is natural, not the result of artificial 
means; that it occurs unexpectedly, and under the ordi- 
nary administration of the Divine word) and is preceded 
and attended by the spirit of agonizing prayer and entire 
dependence on God. 

Some object to excitement, because in many cases it 
tends to deception. In proof of this they allege that 



248 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

many persons who embrace religion in a revival, fail to 
bring forth the fruits of righteousness; while others, 
though they run well for a season, soon fall by the way. 
This melancholy fact must be admitted. But among 
those who embrace religion gradually, under the regular 
preaching of the word, in seasons of no extraordinary 
excitement, is there not as great a proportion of false 
conversions and instances of apostasy, as can be found in 
any equal number who profess conversion in a revival? 
We believe that extensive, and careful, and prayerful ob- 
servation warrants an affirmative answer to this question. 
In making up an opinion on this point, a superficial ob- 
server is liable to be misled. In the one case there are a 
few conversions scattered over a long period, in the other 
there are many compressed into a short space of time. 
Suppose the relative proportion of false and true conver- 
sions to be the same in each, and let this be as one to 
ten. Now, suppose in a Church which enjoys no revivals 
there are ten conversions in the course of a year; and in 
a society favored with a refreshing season there are one 
hundred in a week : the one false conversion during the 
year in the former case will scarce be noticed, while the 
ten in the latter instance will strongly attract the atten- 
tion.* It is said that self-deception resulting from excite- 



* Fruits of Revivals.— The subject of the results of revivals has been 
examined with much care in New England. In 1829 a letter was ad- 
dressed to the Congregational ministers of Connecticut, proposing, among 
others, the following inquiries: First. What was the whole number of 
professors of religion in your Church at the commencement of the year 
1820? Second. What number were added to your Church by profession 
during the years 1820, 1, 2, 3, and 4? Third. Of those who are now 
members of your Church, what proportion may be considered as the fruits 
of a revival, and what is their comparative standing for piety, and active 
benevolent enterprise? Dr. Hawes, of Hartford, writing under date 
March 12, 1832, says, "I am able to state that the answers were in a high 
degree satisfactory." It appeared that a very large proportion of all who 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 249 

ment is calculated to lead men into infidelity, and pro- 
voke opposition to the truth. Deceived sinners, says the 
objector, reason thus : we have been through the process 



are now members of the Congregational Churches in this state, became 
such in consequence of revivals; that the relative proportion of such, as 
revivals have been multiplying, has been continually increasing; that the 
most active and devoted Christians are among those who came into the 
Church as fruits of revivals; that those Churches in which revivals have 
been most frequent and powerful, are the most numerous and flourishing ; 
and that in all the Churches thus visited with Divine influence, there has 
been a great increase of Christian enterprise and benevolent action. 
Bishop M'llvaine, under date April 6, 1832, writes, "I owe too much of 
what I hope for as a Christian, and what I have been blessed with as a 
minister of the Gospel, not to think most highly of the eminent import- 
ance of promoting this spirit, and consequently guarding it against all 
abuses. Whatever I possess of religion began in a revival. The most 
precious, steadfast, and vigorous fruits of my ministry, have been fruits of 
revivals. I believe that the spirit of revivals, in the true sense, was the 
simple spirit of the religion of apostolic times; and will be more and more 
the characteristic of those as the day of the Lord draws near. 

Bodily Excitement. — Dr. M'Dowell, pastor of the First Presbyterian 
Church, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, March 5, 1832, writes, "Fre- 
quently sobbing aloud was heard in our meetings, and in some instances 
there was a universal trembling; and in others a privation of bodily 
strength, so that the subjects were not able to get home without help. In 
this respect this revival was different from any other which I have wit- 
nessed. I never dared to-speak against this bodily agitation, lest I should 
be found speaking against the Holy Ghost ; but I never did any thing to 
encourage it. It may be proper here to relate the case of a young man, 
who was then a graduate of one of our colleges, and is now a very respect- 
able and useful minister of Christ. Near the commencement of the re- 
vival he was led for the first time, and out of complaisance to his sisters, 
to a meeting in a private house. I was present, and spoke two or three 
times between prayers, in which some of my people led. The audience 
was solemn, but perfectly still. I commenced leading in the concluding 
prayer. A suppressed sob reached my ears ; it continued and increased ; 
I brought the prayer speedily to a close ; I cast my eyes over the audience, 
when, behold ! it was the careless, proud young man, who was standing 
near me ; leaning on his chair, sobbing, and trembling in every part, like 
the Philippian jailer. He raised his eyes toward me; and then tottered 
forward, threw his arms round my shoulders, and cried out, ' What shall 
I do to be saved?' " See Sprague on Revivals. 



250 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

of conversion; we know all about religion; and yet we 
are as bad as we ever were. There can be no reality in 
it. Now, I venture to say that nothing but base deprav- 
ity or obstinate stupidity can induce such illogical rea- 
soning. Suppose a case for illustration : On a certain 
mountain is a spring, reputed throughout the country to 
possess extraordinary medicinal virtues. It is necessary, 
however, to the efficacy of the water, that the system be 
brought into a certain preparatory condition before it is 
used. In judging of this condition men are liable to be 
deceived. One hundred persons on a certain day walk to 
this spring and drink its healing waters; they all depart, 
supposing themselves cured; ten of them, on their return, 
discover that their disease remains. Now, what is. the in- 
ference which they draw? Is it that the general opinion 
in regard to the virtues of the spring is without founda- 
tion ; or do they not at once suppose that they were not 
properly prepared before they partook its cooling waters ? 
And surely this opinion would be confirmed if they ascer- 
tained that the ninety who accompanied them were per- 
fectly cured. I think that the individual who, although 
he professed Christianity under a gradual influence from 
the means of grace, finds himself deceived, will be much 
more likely to become a skeptic than he who, embracing 
religion in a period of excitement, soon awakes to the 
conviction that he is yet a sinner. But are we to aban- 
don a means of grace because, in its use, some sinners 
may imagine themselves saints ? Beware lest we adopt a 
principle that may lead us to lay aside the word of God 
itself. How does our Savior represent its effects? as pro- 
ducing a similar crop, whether sown in the fertile field, or 
on stony ground, or by the wayside; or as producing va- 
rious results in different cases ? 

Some imagine that any excitement of the passions 
is injurious. By observing a tendency to preternatural 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 251 

excitement in many of the feelings, they conclude that 
any unusual stimulus applied to the heart must produce 
over-excitement. They do not consider that all passions 
are not in the same condition; that while some are nat- 
urally excitable, others are morbidly languid. What 
physician would hesitate to stimulate the liver if he 
found it torpid, merely because some other organ was in 
an irritable condition ? Moreover, it ought to be remem- 
bered that in conversion the whole moral state is changed. 
Although a physician would withdraw all stimuli from a 
patient whose pulse was madly throbbing with a fever, yet 
if that fever should subside and leave the patient in an 
exhausted condition, he would think it flagrant malprac- 
tice not to use incitants. While the sinner burns with 
the feverish passions of a wicked heart, the less he is ex- 
cited the better; but when the delusion of sin departs, 
and his feelings are transferred to their appropriate ob- 
jects, we need not fear the influences of genial stimulus. 
The feelings which it is the object of the pulpit to 
arouse are such as can not be too much excited. What 
are they? The filial fear of God, the love of God, trust 
and confidence in God, and kindred emotions. Who on 
all the earth finds these feelings too much excited within 
his breast? Bring forward the holiest Christian that 
lives; ask him if he fears God with too deep a rev- 
erence ? whether he loves God with an affection too fer- 
vent? whether he trusts in God with a heart too confid- 
ing, with a faith too firm? Ask him if he ever did, if he 
thinks there is any danger that he ever will — if there is 
any truth in revelation, any scene in nature, any sights, 
or sounds, or sympathies on earth, that can fan these 
feelings to too intense a flame? He'll tell you, nay; he'll 
testify that in the moments of his warmest feelings his 
devotion falls below the standard which his own reason 
approves. And is he right ? Go search creation for its 



252 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

basest rebel; bring hither the pirate that whistles in 
the winds, as he hurls his shrieking victims into the 
waves; or the hardened wretch that marches to the gal- 
lows, with arms stained up to the shoulders with blood ; 
or the lawless Bedouin, that tracks the traveler through 
Arabian sands, to shoot him for his gold; then lay the 
evidences of that holy man's devotion before him, and I'll 
trust even to his reason to say whether that devotion is 
above the proper standard. 

Sound the inquiry over every field, and in every man- 
sion, and through all the chapels, where angels sing, or 
saints perfected worship, whether there was ever found 
one happy spirit within the circle of celestial light that 
loved, or feared, or trusted God beyond appointed limits. 
I'd ask whether all the scenes of glory, and all the armies 
of the blest, and all the legions of the throne, cherubic 
or seraphic, and all the harps of heaven, and all the ho- 
sannas of the skies could wake within one holy breast a 
devotion too intense. Open heaven, and bring down the 
holiest angel that ever dipt his wing in the light of 
glory, and place him in this altar; ask him if he ever 
felt the fire of holy love rising too high within his 
breast. His glowing lips would tell you, that when the 
highest flames burned upon his heart, and the loudest 
halleluiahs lingered on his tongue, his devotion rose not 
above the ever-ascending point which angel reason aims 
at. Strike up for him the loudest anthem that ever 
trembled on the lips or harps of Zion; and louder, 
stronger, deeper, let the music of blest voices break upon 
his ear, till hosannas peal like thunder through the 
earthly temple, and see if this son of glory will complain. 
No, no! He will lift his eyes, and move his wings, and 
draw his harp, and raise his voice, till the echoes of his 
praise shall wake the nations. Now bid him hush ! 
Think you he'd spare the ears of the listening hills? 



RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT. 253 

Louder would hosannas roll ! Now bid him change his 
theme; he'll tell you this is the theme of heaven; this 
the song of all the choirs above; he knows no other 
theme. Ask him to smother these rising feelings; he'll 
spurn the rebel world, and soar to his native hills of 
light, where the angels and the redeemed sing, "Worthy 
is the Lamb," in notes like many waters, and mighty 
thunderings, that will finally break over all bounds, till 
every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and 
under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that 
are in them, send back the shout, saying, "Blessing, and 
honor, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the 
throne, and unto the Lamb forever !" 



254 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



\t fttljjH Kitfc Junius. 

" Render unto Csesar the things that are Caesar's," etc. Matt, xxn, 21. 

"/"IjSDSAR" here stands for civil government. This is 
^ an ordinance of God. It is necessary to society; 
society is necessary to our improvement — happiness — 
even existence; the human race would soon become ex- 
tinct without it. These propositions have been often 
demonstrated. What is that civil government which is so 
important ? The answer may be given in the words of 
an apostle : " For rulers are not a terror to good works, 
but to the evil." . . . " Revengers to execute wrath 
upon him that doeth evil." The evil to be punished by 
the civil rulers, is that evil which interferes with the 
rights of others; government was instituted not for the 
reformation or salvation, but protection of society — and 
its permanency and prosperity may be measured by 
the degree in which it accomplishes this end. This is 
not only what the government ought to do, but all it 
ought to do. It should assume no more power than is 
necessary to the preservation of society; and to protect 
every man in the enjoyment of his rights by the punish- 
ment of those who infringe them is all that is necessary. 
Government may conveniently do many things to pro- 
mote the public education, welfare, and improvement, 
but as these are not essential, they ought not to be per- 
formed without the express consent of the people. Gov- 
ernment, which protects rights by punishing wrongs, is, 
then, both in the constitution of nature and the charter 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 255 

of revelation, ordained by God; and no other govern- 
ment is. To say that government, no matter how un- 
righteous, is of God, is to make him responsible for the 
enormities of Caligula and the crimes of Nero; to in- 
dorse the theory of despots that "the king can do no 
wrong ;" to reverse the theory of republicans, " resist- 
ance to tyrants is obedience to God;" to repudiate the 
magna charta libertatum ; condemn the Reformation of 
the sixteenth century, the British Revolution of 1688, 
the American Revolution of 1776, and, indeed, every 
improvement in government and enlargement of human 
rights since the days of Nimrod — for what advance has 
been made without resistance to the government? Be 
it observed that nothing is said in Scripture about the 
form of government; it is of little matter what the 
form is, if it perfectly protects all rights ; for this will 
insure perfect liberty, whether under a monarchy or a 
democracy. If, on the other hand, government fail to 
protect men's rights or redress their wrongs, it is a 
tyranny, whether it consist of one ruler or a hundred 
millions. The multitude may be a tyrant as well as the 
king. Some superficial minds confound liberty with a 
particular form of government, as though a majority 
could do no wrong. But are not men depraved ? Have 
not the masses filled cities with slain, and fields with 
desolation, and gutters with innocent blood ? Have they 
not made such havoc that men have fled to despotism as 
a refuge from democracy? Have not republican consti- 
tutions been drafted for no other purpose than to pro- 
tect minorities from the tyranny of majorities? Who 
would be willing, no matter how democratic his feelings, 
to have the question whether he should live or be a 
member of society determined by vote? God made you, 
and you have a right to life, if you do not injure 
others — you can not live without society; you have a 



256 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

right, therefore, to society. If one society may expel 
you without fault, then may every other, and thus drive 
you into the ocean. Neither the right to live nor the 
right to society is so dear as liberty. "Would you submit 
that to be decided by maj ority or plurality of voices? This 
were to go back far beyond the days of Luther. 

Suppose a government protects our rights, what do we 
owe it? 

1. Obedience. This we should render cheerfully, con- 
stantly, conscientiously; it is due to ourselves — to our 
fellow-men — to God. We must not demand perfection 
before we render obedience ; perfection is not to be ex- 
pected in human institutions — sufficient, if government 
in a good degree accomplish its end, advance in the 
right direction, and maintain an elevation consistent 
with the civilization and the spirit of the people and 
the age. We should cherish a conservative feeling to- 
ward it, hesitate to oppose its measures, and construe 
charitably its acts and utterances. In this country we 
have special need to cultivate the spirit of obedience, to 
breathe it into our children, and to exhibit it to our 
neighbors. 

2. We owe it honor. We should respect all its au- 
thorities, and, so far as we can, consistently with truth 
and duty, speak well of them, and teach our children to 
reverence them. He who does not respect the maker 
of the law, its judge and its minister, will not be likely 
to respect the law itself. As by the government of the 
family men are trained for the government of the state, 
so by the government of the state they are trained for 
the higher government of heaven. Reverence for rulers 
has therefore an important religious bearing. "Love the 
brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." 

He who depreciates his ruler depreciates himself. We 
would not suffer a stranger to insult the governor; why? 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 257 

Because we should feel it an insult to ourselves. The 
manner in which we are accustomed to denounce our 
public men lowers us in the estimation of foreign na- 
tions. He who depreciates rulers depreciates that law, 
'•whose seat is in the bosom of God, whose voice is the 
harmony of the world." God has said, " Thou shalt 
not speak evil of the ruler of thy people/' 

3. We owe it support. Righteous rulers well deserve 
compensation. Whether this be raised directly or indi- 
rectly, it should be paid cheerfully. " For this cause 
pay ye tribute also." . . . " Render to all their dues, 
tribute to whom tribute, custom to whom custom." It is 
intensely wicked to defraud the revenue. So far was 
our Savior from it, that when the officers came to collect 
of him a tax of doubtful legality, he said, "Notwith- 
standing, lest we should offend, take that and give unto 
them for me and thee." He teaches the same lesson in 
the text. Three rival parties join to insnare him. The 
Herodians — politicians — who maintained that it was right 
to support the Roman government; the Pharisees — 
bigots — rwho denied this ; and the Sadducees — infidels — 
who were indifferent upon the subject. If the Savior 
answered the questions propounded to him affirmatively, 
the Pharisees were to arouse both the religious bigotry 
of their party and the national prejudices of the com- 
mon people against him ; for the Jews were looking and 
hoping for a Messiah who should assume temporal au- 
thority, and lead them forth to universal conquest. If 
he answered negatively, the Herodians were to combine 
their party against him and charge him before the civil 
authority with treason. If he did not answer, all par- 
ties were to charge him with cowardice. He makes 
them answer themselves — " Show me a denarius ; whose 
image and superscription is this?" they say, Caesar's. 
u Render, therefore, to Caesar the things that are 

22 



258 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Caesar's," etc. The fact that Caesar coined the money- 
one of the highest acts of state sovereignty — was proof 
that he exercised civil authority. When they acknowl- 
edged this, they implied an obligation to pay tribute. 
The regulation of the currency is one of the legitimate 
acts of government, and brings under obligation those 
who use it to pay for coining. 

We should pay tax, not merely as a matter of policy or 
of duty to man, but also as a matter of duty to God. 
" Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the 
Lord's sake." 

4. We owe to civil government our prayers. " I ex- 
hort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, 
intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men : 
for kings, and for all that are in authority" etc. 1 
Timothy ii, 1. 

We have proceeded upon the supposition that govern- 
ment is confined within its proper sphere, and is faith- 
ful within that sphere. But suppose, owing to the 
weakness of human reason and the strength of human 
depravity, that government is perverted. The question 
may arise, when is government perverted ? The answer 
is, I think, simple. 1. When it fails to protect its sub- 
jects in the enjoyment of their rights; or, 2. When it 
requires its subjects to do wrong. But who are the 
subjects of government? Human beings, of course — 
and who are human beings? They who possess the 
essential attributes of humanity. What are these? 
They are not to be found in color, or feature, or flesh, 
or blood — they are reason, affection, conscience. These 
confer the capacities, of comprehending, loving, and 
serving God, and lift the being possessing them aloft 
above the mere animal creation. He who is capable of 
obeying God is accountable to God, and he who is ac- 
countable to God has the rights of man. What are the 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 259 

rights of man? We hold these truths to be revealed, 
that all men are sprung from the same father, plunged 
in the same ruin, and redeemed by the same Savior. A 
natural inference is that all have equal rights. Our 
Revolutionary fathers held this to be self-evident, that 
among these rights — natural and inalienable — are " life, 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Inferiority does 
not extinguish rights. If you claim control over another 
because of your superiority, another may claim you by 
the same title. Such a claim is indeed rarely set up. 
It is not the inferiority* of the slave, but his status, on 
which the master rests ; the more the slave improves — 
the whiter becomes his skin — the greater the infusion 
of Anglo-Saxon blood that floats in his veins, the tighter 
does the master hold him. Oppression does not cancel 
rights. If a man buys property of a thief, he gets a 
thief's title; if he sells it, he conveys a thief s title; 
if he bequeaths it, he bequeaths a thief's title. Ill- 
gotten property may, in time, be rightfully acquired by 
possession, provided the original owner can not be found ; 
but in man there is always a soul — an original owner; 
so that, however many ancestors of the slave may have 
been sold, the present master has no better title than 
the original man-stealer. Law can not destroy human 
rights; it is the province of law to confirm rights, not 
to annihilate them. The alleged incapacity of certain 
men for liberty, does not destroy their inalienable rights. 
How did such incapacity originate ? Do you say it is 
natural ? It were a paradox to say that God would per- 
petuate a race of human beings incapable of liberty. 
W hat rank would they hold in the scale of beings ? 



"There are some who deny that the negro belongs to the human race — 
they would put the naturalist at fault, the southern sensualist in prison 
or on the gallows, and the mulatto—I know not where. 



260 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

What would be their position at the last day and beyond 
it? It were a libel both upon man and God. If the 
alleged incapacity is produced by our oppression, can 
this give us a title to the subjects of that oppression? 
Such a claim could be set up in favor of any tyrant. It 
goes to this point — that a man's rights over another are 
in proportion to the wrongs he commits upon him, and 
hence, that the longer a man suffers wrong, the less 
is he entitled to relief, till at length protracted op- 
pression utterly extinguishes all his rights. Some rivet 
the chains upon the slave because he is content with 
his condition. If it be true that a man is satisfied with 
the condition of a slave, why is it true? Because 
slavery has imbruted him. If a surgeon, by pressure 
upon your brain, were so to impair your reasoning pow- 
ers as to make you satisfied to be his slave, would that 
insure him a valid title to what was left of you ? 

But can not God subject one man to another as a 
slave; and has he not sanctioned slavery in his word? 
The same rule of interpretation by which you can make 
the Bible sanction slavery, you may make it approve of 
tyranny and polygamy. A government may not only 
deprive its subjects of rights, but require them to do 
wrong. Who is to judge when a government does so? 
for what may appear wrong to one man may appear right 
to another.* To a certain extent this is true. But 
there is a region within which all is clear. To love 
God, to love man, for example, are duties which all 
must acknowledge. Cruelty, adultery, fraud, and theft, 
are condemned by every sane mind. If the Legislature 
of Ohio should pass a law requiring us to chase down 
every man not more than five feet six inches high who 



Liberty of conscience may be allowed up to the point, at which a man 
eupposes himself at liberty to infract the rights of others. 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 261 

should be trying to get his wheat to the Canada market, 
and enjoining us to distribute that wheat among his neigh- 
bors, and all this because he was not any taller, we 
should all agree that it was wrong. 

The text gives no doubtful index to the mode by which 
we may determine when a government transcends its 
powers. That over which a government has power, it 
may regulate. It can stamp its image on weights, and 
scales, and landmarks, and flags; it may therefore issue 
its decrees to mark boundaries, and regulate commerce, 
and measures, and fortifications; but when it comes to 
the human soul, it finds another image there, and hears 
another voice. Render unto God the things that are 
God's. Lift up your eye to the heavens; try to efface 
God's image on the sky and stamp your own there, before 
you attempt to turn the human soul into gold, and run it 
in your die. Stop the revolving earth with a stamp of 
your foot, or stay the sun in his course with your curse, 
before you prescribe the course of human thought, and 
feeling, and will. Bring on your chains, kindle up your 
fires around a man. "He that sitteth in the heavens 
shall laugh." 

Suppose a government be perverted, what shall we do ? 
Some would say, overthrow it. Let us beware how we do 
this; especially in a land of free speech, where errors 
may be exploded and public opinion molded according 
to truth. Civil war is the most horrible of all war. The 
issue of battle is not always determined by the right. 
An unsuccessful attempt at revolution puts back the day 
of deliverance, by depriving the oppressed of their lead- 
ers, impressing their cause with shame, strengthening 
their oppressors, and emboldening and provoking their 
enemies to still further oppression. A successful revolu- 
tion is effected at the cost of much blood, and treasure, 
and life ; overthrows existing institutions, many of which 



262 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS, 

are always good, and sometimes invaluable; excites a 
spirit of anarchy; injures the public morals, and fre- 
quently leads to a despotism more dreadful than that 
which it overthrows. 

There are some who talk lightly of a dissolution of our 
Union. They have not properly considered either its 
value or the consequence of dissolving it. The Union is 
precious. It diminishes the hazards of foreign wars, and 
the dangers of domestic violence. It secures to us uni- 
formity in the administration of justice, respectability in 
the eyes of the nations, and the perpetuity of our free 
institutions. It harmonizes the conflicting interests, and 
weakens the sectional prejudices of a people bound by 
the ties of a common origin, a common conflict, a com- 
mon language, a common literature, a common religion, 
and inhabiting states broken by no natural boundary. It 
exhibits the only example of democratic government on 
an extensive scale that the world has ever seen ; it holds 
out the hand of welcome to the oppressed of all lands 
but one, and animates the friends of liberty throughout 
the earth. It could not be dissolved without the shed- 
ding of blood, perhaps in torrents more fearful than the 
world has ever seen. If the dissolution were effected, it 
would be followed by a succession of annoyances leading 
to a succession of wars, which would end, God only knows 
when. If, therefore, we find our government imperfect — 
if we find that it not only fails to protect a class of citi- 
zens in their rights, but protects some of the states in 
oppression, let us be patient; let us, when we think of dis- 
union, balance the probable evil against the probable good 
of such a step, and consider whether there is not a better 
way to compass our end. I have never failed to pray, 
"God save the United States," or to believe that their 
union would be permanent, or to hope that emancipation 
can be achieved in constitutional modes. 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 263 

What, then, is our duty first, if government fail to pro- 
tect its subjects in the exercise of their rights? Some 
feel no concern, provided their own rights are secured. 
This is gross injustice. By the social compact, society is 
bound to protect its members, and government is its 
agent. Every man is responsible to the extent of his 
power and influence in the state, for the wrongs of gov- 
ernment. 

Under the old dispensation, it was written, "If thou 
forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and 
those that are ready to be slain : if thou sayest, behold, 
we knew it not, doth not he that pondereth the heart 
consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he 
know it? and shall he not render to every man according 
to his work V Under the new dispensation, the sum of 
morality is that truth, "Do unto others as ye would they 
should do unto you;" a perfect "two-inch gague," by 
which any man, in any situation, may measure his obliga- 
tions to his fellow-man. Put yourself in the situation of 
the oppressed, and you can learn your duty to him. 
Were you a slave, what would you have me do? Never 
say one word for you, lest I offend some wily politician, or 
call forth the denunciations of some faithless editor? 
No, no! 

But, second, suppose government require the subject 
to do wrong. Shall I obey ? Not while there is a God 
in heaven. "Render unto God the things that are 
God's." 

There were higher and lower-law divines in ancient 
times. In the valley of the Nile, Pharoah said: "Slay 
the children '" but the mid wives saved, them alive. On 
the plain of Dura, the office-seekers said: "0, king, live 
forever ; thou hast made a decree that every man that 
shall hear the sound of the cornet, harp, flute, sackbut, 
psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall 



264 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

down and worship the golden image; but there are cer- 
tain Jews that have not regarded thee." Higher-law 
men said : a Be it known unto thee, king, that we will 
not serve other gods, nor worship the golden image which 
thou hast set up." In the palace of Darius, on a certain 
occasion, the presidents, governors, etc., said to the king: 
" Hast thou not signed a decree that every man that shall 
ask a petition of any god or man within thirty days, save 
of thee, king, shall be cast into the den of lions ? . 
Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Ju- 
dah, regardeth not thee, king, nor the decree that thou 
hast signed : but maketh his petition three times a day." 
Once in the Sanhedrim, the high-priest said to certain 
apostles: "Did not we straitly command you that ye 
should not teach in this name, and behold ye have filled 
Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this 
man's blood upon us." Then Peter and the other apos- 
tles answered and sard, "We ought to obey God, rather 
than men." 

But can we not do something more than refuse obedi- 
ence to unrighteous decrees, and sympathize with the 
subjects of oppression? Yea, verily! Men have intel- 
lect — heart — conscience. We can petition — remonstrate. 
This is a privilege granted by usage, under the most 
despotic governments, and secured by the Constitution 
under our own. The crudest tyrants have generally suf- 
fered the worst rebels to pray to them. The Emperor 
of Morocco, the most perfect despot in the world, gives 
audience four times a week to even the meanest of his 
subjects; though sometimes the most boastful democrats 
have refused to hear the prayers of their constituents. 
Well may we say, "Let us not fall into the hands of man. 
Let us fall into the hands of God, for very great are his 
mercies." He invites sinners to pray, to supplicate and 
deprecate, and facilitates their approaches by a Mediator. 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 265 

I suppose the laity of this free country will not be 
denied the right of petition so long as the name of 
Adams is remembered, though it is not so clear that their 
pastors will fare so well, unless — in relation to the matter 
or form of their memorials — they happen to think with 
the majority of the senate, for which the claim of infal- 
libility is set up. But why not be heard? Have they 
not sense enough to know right from wrong? or do they 
not give sufficient heed to the doings of their rulers?* or 
have they so much interest in the public treasury as not 
to be able to escape an improper bias ? or have they not 
sufficient moral purity to express opinions side by side 
with men that handle types, or who sit in privileged 
seats, for which I believe no certificate of moral charac- 
ter is required? Why not, then ? One answers, "They 
should have nothing to do with politics." There is a 
sense in which I admit this proposition. T hope never to 
see the Church connected with the state. f True, there 
are arguments for such connection. It secures the pulpit 
the best talents, clothes it with influence, and gives it in- 
dependence of popular support. I deem no religious lit- 
erature equal to that of the English Church, and it could 
hardly have been produced without the patronage of the 
state. But there x are' evils in that patronage; it weakens 
the faith, and multiplies the temptations, and strength- 
ens the pride of the clergy; instead of emboldening min- 
isters to declaim against public vices and religious errors, 
it has enticed them to cover up private vices and 



°It is said that the clergy are ignorant on political subjects. Perhaps 
it would hardly be kind to inquire if politicians are not ignorant on moral 
subjects. 

fl have no fears that way just now; more fear of an establishment of 

atheism, than of an establishment of religion among us. Strange that 

wme politicians should be conservative of slavery, which is not essential 

to government, and destructive of religion, which is. 

90 



266 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

political corruption. Thank God, the pulpit of this land 
owes nothing to the state, and fears nothing from it ; it 
is competent to judge without bias and speak without 
trepidation. 

The great argument for the connection of Church and 
state, namely, that the patronage of the latter is nec- 
essary to religion, has been swept away by overwhelming 
facts. The dissenters of England have been steadily 
encroaching upon the "Establishment." The Churches 
of America outgrow and outshine all the other Churches 
of the world. No longer let Zion be found in league 
with the state against the liberties of mankind, upon 
the plea that she can not live without royal favor. 
From the first, Jesus said, " My kingdom is not of this 
world." His birth, his life, his death, was a comment 
on these words. He would have his ministers free from 
political designs. The man who enters the pulpit to 
plead for political purposes, to aggrandize himself, or 
punish his political enemies, or please his political friends, 
or to endow his Church, or benefit his ministry by po- 
litical agencies or influences, prostitutes the sacred place. 
Christ would also have his ministers free from a polit- 
ical spirit; and as it is difficult to escape such a spirit 
while connected with political parties, it is well that the 
minister, as much as may be, avoid them, and stand in 
politics, not neutral — this were unworthy of a man — but 
independent ; so as to be able to judge without difficulty, 
and speak without reserve or hesitancy, when men "frame 
mischief by law." 

Ministers are strongly exposed to the contagion of a 
political spirit, and tempted to indulge it; for when they 
do they summon to their aid a powerful party, particularly 
if it be the dominant one, and they are sure to receive 
the reward of their deeds, either in flattery or influence, 
pr more tangible good things. It is when, like their 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 267 

Master, they are independent, that they are liable to be 
derided and denounced. Cost what it may, however, 
ministers should avoid party spirit; it is inconsistent 
with that kindness and forbearance which the Gospel 
breathes. The beloved John felt it when he said, 
u Master, we saw one casting out devils, and we forbade 
him, because he followeth not us." The apostles mani- 
fested it when they said in reference to the Samaritans, 
who refused the Savior permission to pass through their 
streets, "Wilt thou that we command fire to come down 
from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did?" It 
is not surprising that they who steadily contemplate a 
wicked system, should burn with indignation, and de- 
nounce those who uphold it, without discrimination and 
without mercy. But let us judge charitably of motives, 
while we judge severely of principles. Had we — for ex- 
ample — been reared in the south we might have been 
holders of slaves, and had we received them by inherit- 
ance, and treated them with kindness, we might, with 
Bible in hand — especially if it were expounded by a 
slaveholding ministry — have thought ourselves innocent. 
The tendency of education to warp our opinions, has 
not always been overlooked by even the most forward 
champions of emancipation. Indeed, so strongly have 
they made the distinction between slavery and slave- 
holders — shielding the latter while they denounced the 
former — that they have been tauntingly called abstraction- 
ists. The epithet, however, is likely to be transferred 
to another party, who, while they assert that slavery can 
not enter our new territory, are ready to move heaven 
and earth to declare the principle that it ought to be 
permitted to do so. And this is one of the encouraging 
signs of the times, that this great question is to be dis- 
cussed abstractly. This will strip the controversy of 
much of its bitterness, and bring the parties at once to 



268 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

issue, if not to agreement. Another favorable sign is, 
that the " powers that be/' instead of discouraging 
free discussion on great moral questions, lead the way 
in it. 

Christ would have his ministers free from the charge 
of interfering with the administration of civil law. On 
this subject he gave impressive lessons. The people 
receiving him as Messiah, did not hesitate to regard his 
authority as supreme. Yet he refused to make civil law, 
or abrogate it, or enforce it. On one occasion, being 
called on to settle a disputed inheritance, he said : 
"Man, who made me a judge, or a divider over you?" 
When men brought a guilty woman into his presence, 
he declined to pronounce the sentence of the law upon 
her. He laid down moral law for the guidance of all 
men, and referred to a tribunal where he would sit as 
judge of all, but he left the laws of the state in the 
hands of civil rulers. The great error of his Church 
has been in assuming civil as well as ecclesiastical au- 
thority. This it is which, for so long, made her either 
a usurper, or an insurgent, or a dependent of the state, 
which secularized her views, corrupted her motives, and 
crippled her energies. But for this, we might, ere this, 
have reached the millennium. In the United States we 
have been careful to avoid this error of politicians. It 
is profoundly to be regretted that, being treated cav- 
alierly by politicians when they become petitioners on 
great moral subjects, they should be challenged to enter 
the political arena. 

Thus far ministers should avoid politics, but there 
remains to them a large residuum of duty to the state j 
they should render to God the things that are his. We 
owe it to him to preach truth both to rich and poor, to 
reprove sin in high places as well as low ones. How- 
ever exalted rulers be, they are not above moral obli- 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 269 

gation ; they are liable to sin, and therefore subject to 
admonition. "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy 
heart; thou shalt in anywise reprove thy brother and 
not suffer sin upon him." There was in former days a 
kiriL r that oppressed a certain people, and there was a 
minister that said to him, "Let the people go." True, 
he proved his commission by miracles and his authority 
by Divine judgments. The age of miracles is past, but 
the principles which those miracles established remain. 
Saul, in violation of law, offered a burnt-offering. And 
Samuel said to him, "Thou hast done foolishly: thou 
hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God: 
thy kingdom shall not continue." King David on a 
certain occasion sinned. Nathan then spoke to him of a 
rich man that had exceeding many flocks and herds, 
and a poor man that had nothing, save one little ewe 
lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it 
grew up together with him and his children; it did eat 
of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in 
his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there 
came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take 
of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the 
wayfaring man that was come to him. (The prophet 
does not say whether it was a white lamb or a black one, 
but I suppose the color of the wool would not have 
altered the nature of the case.) And David's anger 
kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, "'As 
the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall 
surely die. And he shall restore four-fold, because he 
did this thing, and because he had no pity." And 
the prophet said, "Thou art the man." It was the 
theory of the Jews that the king was the viceroy of 
God; he was, therefore, high and lifted up, and yet not 
bo high as to be above reproof from human lips. It is 
our theory of government that the highest power is the 



270 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

people, and that the rulers are their servants, though 
this may not be the theory of thirty-eight degrees fifty, 
three minutes — it is of this latitude. If those servants 
take thousands of ewe lambs from the bosoms of the 
poor to slay and dress them for the stranger, shall not 
the Nathans be allowed to put parables to them? I 
should like to put one. 

In ancient times there was one Ahab, and there was 
one Jezebel, and there was one Elijah, too, and when 
the king stole the vineyard and killed the owner, the 
prophet meddled with politics. And, doubtless, pol- 
iticians complained of agitation, and said, "Art thou he 
that troubleth Israel?" But the prophet confronted the 
king right in the vineyard, and said, "Thus saith the 
Lord, hast thou killed and also taken possession?" The 
conscience-smitten Ahab said to Elijah, "Hast thou found 
me, mine enemy! And he answered, I have found 
thee, because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the 
sight of the Lord." There were prophets after Elijah, 
and thus ran their commission, "Son of man, cause 
Jerusalem" — that is, the capital — "to know her abom- 
inations" Ezekiel xvi, 1. (Some say that ministers 
should avoid politics, because it is a muddy stream, 
others because it is a pure one. The logic of neither 
is good. If the latter be correct, then we ought to 
insist on enjoying the transparent waters; and surely 
these persons will be the last to insist that we do not 
need their purifying power. If the former are right — 
and I suppose they are — we ought to bear in mind that 
all sin is muddy, and that no sinner would be saved if 
ministers of mercy did not trouble muddy pools.) "Cry 
aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and 
show my people their transgressions, and the house of 
Jacob their sins." Isaiah lviii, 1. "And I will make 
thee unto this people a fenced brazen wall; and they 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 271 

shall fight against thee, but shall not prevail against 
thee; for I am with thee to save thee, and to deliver 
thee, saith the Lord." Jeremiah xv^ 20. And how did 
the prophets fulfill such commissions? Nehemiah, for 
example, finding the capital polluted, says, "Then con- 
tended I with the rulers." . > . "Then contended I 
with the nobles" — the senators — -"of Judah, and said un- 
to them, What evil thing is this that ye do?" Nehemiah 
xiii, 13. Sometimes the prophets were dumb dogs, and 
then did their master send terrible messages to them. 

But you will say all this was under the old dispensa- 
tion. Under this we have nothing to do but "to preach 
Christ." Granted. And what is it to preach Christ, 
but to proclaim his mission, in his spirit, and according 
to his example? What is his mission? Hear him as he 
stands in the synagogue with the parchment roll in his 
hand: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; be- 
cause the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings 
unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken- 
hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the 
opening of the prison -doors to them that are bound; 
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the 
day of vengeance of our God." Alas! the Church has 
been, to too great an extent, splitting theological hairs, 
and rattling dry skeletons raked from the ashes of the 
dark ages, instead of following out the scheme of her 
leader, and thus has often brought contempt upon her- 
self, raised up infidel ranks around her, and left noble 
enterprises either to toe achieved without her aid, or to 
fail for want of her moderation, her wisdom, and her 
prayers. And what is the spirit of our Lord? Meek, 
lowly, gentle, forgiving, yet firm as a rock, and con- 
suming — to iniquity — as the electric stream. Hark ! 
the prophet in vision describes the Son of man: "And 
shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of 



272 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his 
eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears : but 
with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove 
with equity for the meek of the earth, and he shall 
smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with 
the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked." Isaiah 
xi, 3. Again: "Who may abide the day of his coming, 
and who shall stand when he appeareth ?" Not them 
that bought and sold in the temple — not -the lawyers who 
took away the key of knowledge — not the rulers who 
garnished the sepulchers of the prophets while their 
own souls were as sepulchers — not the murderer of in- 
fants, nor that other Herod, to whom he sent that 
message, "Go ye and tell that fox," etc. Though he 
came to save sinners, he did not come to spare sin, even 
in politics. He undermined the foundations of both 
the Jewish and the Roman state. His forerunner went 
to court and withstood the adulterous king to his face, 
and sealed his testimony against wickedness in high 
places with his blood. John struck the first spark of 
that divine flame, in reference to which Christ said, "I 
have come to send fire on the earth, and what will I 
if it be already kindled ?" His followers scattered that 
fire around them. Paul made Felix tremble on the 
judgment-seat, and Agrippa on his throne; he shook 
the pillars of state alike at Mars' Hill and at Csesar's 
household. There was not a state on the earth, in 
apostolic times, that did not rest on the pillars of a 
false religion, and there was not a false religion which 
the apostles did not openly, stoutly, and perpetually 
assail ; there was then no political system against which 
they did not wage an unintermitting and everlasting 
war. Of this politicians accused them ; often torturing 
their words and charging them with designs which they 
did not entertain. It was on a false charge of treason 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 273 

that Christ was crucified, and it was for political inter- 
ference that the apostles, one by one, suffered the mar- 
tyr's death. It was for the same cause that Jerome and 
Huss, and a long line of worthy predecessors and suc- 
cessors walked to the stake singing hymns. Have rulers 
nothing to do with Christ? Does his jurisdiction cease 
at the threshold of the capitol? Does sin cease to be 
sin because preceded by the magic words, "Be it en- 
acted?" It would be well enough for us to ponder the 
2d Psalm : "Why do the heathen rage and the people 
imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set 
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against 
the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us 
break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords 
from us.' ' . . . But what of all this ? " Yet have I 
set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare 
the decree : the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my 
son ; this day have I begotten thee." "Be wise, now, 
therefore, ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the 
earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trem- 
bling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and ye perish 
from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. 
Blessed are all they that put their trust in him." It 
would be well for certain religious editors to ponder 
this. They cry out, Do not meddle with politics. 
Christ meddles with them. Opposition to slavery, how- 
ever, might be justified on religious grounds — adultery, 
polygamy, cruelty, are all hinderances to the spread of 
the Gospel. What -should be said of a system which 
favors all these? The conscience must be reached 
through the intellect, but slavery palsies the intellect. 
Would a proposition to pluck out eyes and fill up ears 
be political? Better lose eyes and ears than mind. 
The final triumphs of the Savior can never be achieved 
while slavery lasts, or civil governments ordain or sustain 



274 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

oppression. The time must come when "all kings shall 
fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Hini." 

In view of these things many clergymen have spoken 
out against a certain pending public measure. For this 
they have been denounced in very high places and very 
low ones. For myself I have no apology. The question 
of slavery in the states is a difficult one — it is not simple, 
but complex— not abstract, but concrete; it relates not 
to a new evil, but an old one; one which has come down 
by the sin of both the British and American govern- 
ments from the ages of darkness; it is inwoven with the 
institutions of the south, social, political, and religious. 
It has polluted her literature; it has shaped her manners, 
and fixed her prejudices, and bound itself up with her 
interests. We have been accustomed to pity and exten- 
uate; and though we might still bear with the slave- 
holder, and wait for the truth to dissolve the chains of 
the slave, as the south wind does the snow, yet we can 
think of no apology for the Nebraska bill. The question 
it presents is simple, abstract, novel. It proposes to ren- 
der virgin soil liable to pollution ; to render a surface of 
the map, already white, by law of peculiar force and so- 
lemnity, likely to be blackened; to open the way to in- 
dorse and imitate the iniquity of the past. It proposes, 
so far as a certain oppressed people are concerned, to 
submit the question of liberty — the fundamental purpose 
of government — the protection of society — to popular 
mercy, excluding from the polls, however, the oppressed 
people, and admitting to them those whose interests or 
prejudices may incline them to vote against their rights. 
And yet men tell us we don't understand it. Strange 
bill, that, after being discussed for months, can not be 
understood! It has, however, a bright side; for, how- 
ever enigmatical to the north, it is clear to the south. 
It would be clear to all, if Germans or Catholics were 



THE PULPIT AND POLITICS. 275 

substituted for an oppressed race. I believe in popular 
sovereignty. Do you believe in liberty? Let us never, 
then, put it in jeopardy in regard to either black or 
white, Protestant or Catholic. 



276 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



S&sgirstxftfl at i\t §Mt, 

AUTHENTICITY refers to the writer of a book, cred- 
ibility to its matter, genuineness to its preservation, 
authority to its sanction, inspiration to its origin. The 
last applies only to the Bible. There are various opin- 
ions in regard to its extent. Some think the Bible in- 
spired merely as poetry is; some hold it to be inspired 
simply so far as they deem it God-worthy; a third class 
holds that a portion only of the Bible is inspired, as the 
Pentateuch and Isaiah; a fourth, that all Scripture is 
inspired, but not equally — distinguishing between super- 
intendence, direction, and suggestion as distinct and 
progressive steps; a fifth class, professing a belief in 
plenary inspiration of all holy Scripture, practically de- 
nies it by giving to human writing, or an instinctive 
sentiment, or an inner light an equal authority. 

The first is open infidelity; the second masked infi- 
delity; against the third we maintain that all Scriptures 
are inspired: against the fourth that all are equally so; 
against the fifth that all are peculiarly so. 

The doctrine we teach is, that as the word of man 
is by the breath of his mouth, so the word of God is by 
the breath of the Almighty. Primarily, the text refers 
to the Old Testament; but, as the apostles ranked the 
New Testament with the Scriptures, we may embrace in 
the proposition the whole Bible. But what is the Bible? 
We answer, the canonical Scriptures in the original 
tongues. That these are fully inspired we argue, 



INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 277 

1. From the necessity of the case. "We are doomed to 
endless disquiet, unless we have an infallible standard 
of truth. There are only three things in which we can 
look for such a standard — reason, the Church, and rev- 
elation. With all Christians the first is out of the ques- 
tion, and with all Protestants the second is also. We 
have no standard if not in the written word. 

If the icords of Scripture are not approved by God, 
there is no written revelation. No being is responsible 
for a document which he has not dictated, or at least 
inspected and approved; and if God has dictated, in- 
spected, and approved the Bible, it is verbally inspired; 
if not, then, though the prophets were inspired, we have 
no revelation — we have nothing but the book. 

2. That the book is verbally inspired in part is clear 
from the following circumstances : In some instances the 
writers predicted coming events which they did not com- 
prehend; in others they searched to know what or what 
manner of time the spirit that was in them did signify. 
This seems to have been an inspiration similar to what oc- 
curred at Pentecost, where each auditor heard the word 
in his own language, the speakers being ignorant of 
the import of the words they spoke ; and again in the 
Corinthian Church, where brethren spoke in the words 
which they themselves did not understand. 

3. We may argue from the prophetic nature of Scrip- 
ture. Not a book of the Old Testament or New that is 
not prophetic in part. Prophecy refers to what is beyond 
the range of human mind. Here man must rely ver- 
bally upon the divine Mind for guidance — an error in 
mood or tense would be an error in fact, and a leak for 
the faith which might sink the Church. 

4. From the manner in which sacred writings are 
introduced, and closed, and quoted by sacred writers. 
David says, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, 



278 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

and his word was in my tongue." Jeremiah xxx, 
4: "And these are the words that the Lord spake." 
Isaiah vii : "For the Lord spake thus to me." Amos iii: 
"Hear the word that the Lord, hath spoken against 
you." Ezekiel iii, 4, 11 : "Speak my words unto them." 
Thus opening , they close in such words as these : " The 
mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken." How are 
they quoted by the apostles? "But those things which 
God before had showed by the mouth of all his proph- 
ets." God the speaker and man the instrument, not 
man the speaker and God the assistant. The New Test- 
ament writers divide the Old Testament into the law 
and the prophets, but quote both as of equal authority — 
both as prophetic. The law, indeed, was prophetic in 
all its parts ; the history of the Jews was typical ; the 
Psalms were full of predictions; the authors of all 
the books were invested with the dignity of the proph- 
ets. "The Scripture must needs have been fulfilled 
which the Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of David." 
The New Testament Scriptures are full of predictions, 
and their authors are said to speak by the Spirit. 

5. From the perfection of Scripture. " The law of 
the Lord is perfect, converting the soul ; the testimony 
of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the stat- 
utes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the 
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the 
eyes; the fear of the Lord is clear, enduring forever; 
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous alto- 
gether." Psalm xix. 

"Not one jot or tittle of the law shall pass away till 
all be fulfilled." Christ always quotes literally. If any 
part of Scripture is inspired, why not all? If not all, 
indeed, then, we have, virtually, none; for we have no 
means of distinguishing the inspired from the uninspired, 
except reason, which is fallible. The most minute words 



INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 279 

sometimes convey important truths. St. Paul argues 
the humanity of Christ from the term " brethren/' in 
the 22d Psalm, and the duty of submission to Provi- 
dence from the term "son" in the Proverbs. Our Sav- 
ior proves the existence of the dead from the tense of 
the verb to be. "I am the God of Abraham/' and, 
" Before Abraham was I am." 

6. From the aid afforded the writers in less important 
circumstances. Moses was the organ which God em- 
ployed to communicate the law — the civil, for the nation 
under the theocracy; the ceremonial, to separate Israel 
from the rest of the world, and foreshadow the coming 
dispensation; and the moral, for all mankind. He spoke 
to God, u face to face." The prophets were sent as 
messengers of Heaven to revolted nations to announce 
direction, threaten punishment, promise reward, and pre- 
dict the future. They held most intimate converse with 
God. 

The apostles were embassadors from Christ to the 
world. "Now, then, we are embassadors for Christ: as 
though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in 
Christ's steads Such was their official character, that 
whosoever rejected them rejected Christ. And mark 
what aid is given these several characters. Moses is 
going to Pharaoh, a mortal man, and lo, the promise of 
God: " Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet — shall be 
to thee instead of a mouth." Look again; one apostle 
is going to meet his adversaries in the Sanhedrim, and 
another is in the hands of the Roman soldiers on his 
way to the court of Felix, and another is in custody, 
awaiting the determination of the Roman emperor. 
Hear the words of Jesus to them all: "And when they 
bring you unto the synagogues and unto magistrates and 
powers, take ye no thought how or what ye shall answer 
or what ye shall say; for the Holy Ghost shall teach you 



280 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

in the same hour what ye ought to say." <{ Whatsoever 
shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye ; for it is 
not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." Now the 
apostle sits down to write a message of salvation from 
God to man, which shall also be a revelation of mys- 
teries for the hierarchies of heaven. The painter may 
mismanage his canvas, the statuary his marble, the 
architect his building, the author his poem, the lawyer 
his case, and the physician his patient; but, alas! shall 
the apostle put a stain upon his parchment? An error 
in the word of God would be a fiery missile propelled by 
almighty force into the souls of men, and for all the 
ages to come. If, when the apostles were in danger 
merely of personal inconvenience or suffering, when ar- 
raigned before a tribunal, which is able to kill the body 
but is not able to harm the soul, they are promised 
aid — verbal aid — such aid that they are forbidden to 
premeditate what they shall say; a fortiori, may we not 
suppose that when they write words which concern the 
eternal interests of all ages they will possess a plenary 
inspiration? This doctrine is not new; it has been the 
doctrine of the Church in all ages. Not till the seven- 
teenth century did it encounter any serious opposition 
from any, except heretics and infidels. And it seems 
that most of those who, since the Reformation, have 
opposed it, have generally grown more and more erratic. 
We notice a few objections: 

1. But what text shall we adopt? are there not va- 
rious readings? Yes, many; but the same thoughts 
are there, the same words are there — only variations in 
their collocations — and none of these affect in the least 
a single fact or doctrine; so that a Bible with all of 
them would be a Bible that all denominations would cir- 
culate. 

2. What translation is to be received? We have a 



INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 281 

very good one in general use — called into being before 
the fires of sectarianism were kindled — at a time when 
one sovereign governed and one Church embraced all 
who spoke the English tongue — executed by men of 
the greatest capacity, piety, and learning; with all the 
aids that the crown of England could afford them ; 
adopted in two hemispheres; received by all sects; lisped 
by infancy and chanted by age; engraved on seals and 
cut upon tombs; proclaimed in pulpits and read in 
closets; followed by the living, and quoted by the dying, 
and woven into all English literature, without question, 
for two centuries and a half. But it is asked, How can 
any translation be regarded as inspired? Does anyone 
doubt that Homer, Virgil, Cicero— that Kant, Tasso, 
Voltaire may be rendered fully and accurately into Eng- 
lish ? Does any one suppose that the documents re- 
ceived in foreign languages at the office of Secretary of 
State can not be safely translated, although the question 
of peace or war may depend upon the correctness of the 
rendering? It is alleged that a translation is but a con- 
densed commentary; but so is the lexicon — -the trans- 
lator does but set down the words that he finds in the 
lexicon. He is as dependent upon his Gesenius as the 
English reader is upon him. If he is competent to 
apply these words properly for himself he is for another. 
Let no man attempt to disturb the English reader; for 
whatever differences occur among translators, all of them 
give the same view of the main facts and doctrines of 
our religion. We hear much in certain quarters about 
a new translation ; it is alleged that the sense of our 
Bible is, in some cases, broken by the divisions into 
chapter and verse "We think not so as to mislead; 
but without chapter and verse how could we make refer- 
ences or use concordances? Let that division which 

makes the Bible unlike all other books, and which 

24 



282 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

enables all other books to point to it, stand; let us not be 
told that the division into paragraphs and parallelisms 
is preferable. Such a division has no settled principle 
to guide it, and if it were adopted it would require the 
whole of our literature to be rewritten. It is said that 
many passages of our English Bible are obscure because 
of orientalisms, literalisms, and obsoleteisms. We an- 
swer, as to the first, that the figurative language of 
Scripture is more easily understood and more perma- 
nent than any literal language; and as to the obsolete- 
isms, very few would ever be misled by them, as the 
context fixes their sense. Moreover, there is a reason 
why the Bible should remain unchanged from age to 
age — it is an anchor to the language. What is it but 
the Bible that prevents the English tongue from being 
broken up into as many dialects as the Greek? Suppose 
a translation made, what is to give it authority with the 
people? It might have authority with a sect, and if so, 
then, so far as that sect extends, it would break the 
common bond of the religion of the Anglo-Saxon race 
and its common medium of religious communication. 
But we have no fears on that score. We have many 
improved translations; but which has ever found its 
way into the pulpit? 

3. Again it is objected: "It is impossible to consider 
every thing in the Bible as the offspring of the Spirit of 
God, because it contains the sayings of the bad, disputa- 
tions of the ignorant, colloquies even with the devil. " 
This is founded upon a mistaken view of the doctrine, 
which is that the whole Bible is compiled under the direc- 
tion of the Holy Spirit, and is infallibly correct. Because 
the clerk of the court records the declarations and repli- 
cations of the attorney, is he to be charged with their 
authorship ? Whatever the Bible says Satan uttered, 
Satan did utter ; whatever the Bible asserts man utters, 



INSTIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 283 

man did utter; whatever it avers God says ; God did say. 
This is our doctrine. 

But why did the Holy Spirit insert in the holy oracles 
any other sayings than its own? Doubtless, because 
these sayings were profitable in some form for doctrine, 
reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. 

4. "If the Scriptures were dictated by the Holy 
Spirit, they would be of uniform style, of unvarying ele- 
vation of thought, and of systematic arrangement." Is 
not the wind of God, and does it blow with uniform 
force and direction ? Is not the earth of God, and is it 
of unvarying elevation? no mountains, no valleys? Are 
not all beauties arranged by an Almighty hand? and yet 
what want of system in forest and plain, in seas and 
skies! But the objector adds, "Each of the sacred 
writers has impressed his production with his own gen- 
ius, education, temperament, and tone of feeling; hence, 
the writing can not be verbally of God. We admit the 
statement, but resist the inference. 

God employs second causes in all his operations so far 
as we can trace them. In employing these second causes 
he conforms to the laws to which he himself has subjected 
them. God waters the earth, but how? Here, by gentle 
and oft-repeated showers; there, by the silent and refresh- 
ing dews; and yonder, by the overflowing river. God 
destroys the wicked nation: in this instance by turning 
the waters of the river and sending an invading army 
through the channel ; in that by the crow and the bat- 
tering-ram; in another, by the bomb-shell and the bay- 
onet. God, in condescension to human infirmities, uses 
human language; is it any more wonderful that he 
should avail himself of human peculiarities? that, in 
conveying truth to the prophet's lips, he should take 
the route of the prophet's imagination, emotions, and 
mental habits? Truly, there is nothing incredible in 



284 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS* 

this to hiin who knows that the hearts and minds of 
men are in the hands of God ; as well as all the modifi- 
cations of external nature. 

5. The Bible contains self-evident and obvious propo- 
sitions, and rude and often offensive exhibitions, and in- 
significant, not to say contemptible, details. The objec- 
tion is three-fold; let the answer be so. In a revelation 
on the most important subjects, and involving the high- 
est interests to man- — a revelation designed as well for the 
savage as the sage, the child as the parent, the peasant as 
the prince — -is it not reasonable to expect some self- 
evident, obvious propositions? Mr. Davies has compiled 
a series of text-books for academies and colleges, designed 
to lead the student from the simplest elements of arith- 
metic to the sublimest truths of astronomy? Do they 
not contain some simple truths, some self-evident propo- 
sitions ? And that they do proves nothing derogatory to 
the mathematical genius of this author. It was the 
glory of Socrates to bring down philosophy from the 
skies; it is the higher glory of the Bible to teach it 
even to babes. 

Admit, too, that the book of God contains rude and 
offensive expressions, will you, therefore, conclude that 
it can not be all of God ? Can nothing proceed from 
the divine Hand of which you can not see the wisdom ? 
Do you see the necessity of flies and serpents, of small- 
pox and pestilence? the wisdom of earthquakes and 
tornadoes, of simooms and siroccos? And beware how 
you set down any detail of facts in God's word as insig- 
nificant Such as are alleged to be so, can, generally, 
by a little investigation, be proved important. We have 
time only to take a single example. Paul writing to 
Timothy says, " The cloak that I left at Troas with Car- 
pus, when thou comest bring with thee, and the books, 
but especially the parchments." "What/' it may be 



INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 285 

asked, "has this to do with the salvation of mankind?" 
Suppose we can not see "what," would that prove that 
it has no such use as would authorize its insertion in a 
revelation from God ? But can we not discern important 
uses which it may subserve ? 

1. It tends to prove the genuineness of the letter in 
which it stands. Nothing can be more natural, unde- 
signed, evincive of a man writing at his ease than the 
passage in question. The apostle is addressing his last 
epistle to a favorite son in the Gospel ; before subscrib- 
ing it, however, he mentions some disconnected facts, 
which occur to his mind, and gives some commissions to 
his friend. This comes in without any apparent connec 
tion with what immediately follows or precedes it, as if 
suggested by some associations in the apostle's mind, 
which we can not trace. It is full of particulars ; the 
articles are named, so is the city and the person. It is 
the art of the forger to avoid details ; every specification 
he makes increases the probability of his detection. If 
this letter be genuine, the other letters of Paul in the 
book must be so likewise; for they bear indubitable 
marks of a common origin ; and if the letters be genuine, 
we may argue thence the reality of the events which 
they relate or to which they advert. Prove these events 
to be real, and you prove the book in which they stand 
to be divine. And by this narrow, rarely-trodden by-path 
of evidence many a curious, intelligent mind has, doubt- 
less, arrived at faith in the Bible. Is there no use in 
such details? (See Paley's Horae Paulinae.) Mark, too, 
how beautifully this passage shows the honesty of the 
writers I About five years prior to writing this epistle 
he was at Corinth, about to return to Jerusalem after a 
short sojourn there. Having the contributions of the 
Asiatic and Greek Churches for the sufferers in Judea, he 
determined to take the shortest route; but, learning that 



286 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

the Jews intended to waylay and murder him, he 
changed his plan; proceeding to Macedonia, he took ship- 
ping at Philippi, and called at Troas, on his way down 
the iEgean, to spend a few days. He put up at the 
house of Marcus, having in his company Sopater, Aris- 
tarchus, Secundus, Graius, Timothy, Tychicus, and Tro- 
phimus. Here, having visited his friends, preached for 
them, and performed a notable miracle, he resumed his 
journey, but he did not embark here; wishing to go to 
Assos, a little below on the coast, he directed his associ- 
ates to enter a vessel while he himself set off on foot, 
intending to get on board at the latter place. Probably 
it was at this period that, finding his cloak and portfolio 
would be burdensome to him in his walk, he directed 
some of his companions to bring them to him by ship. 
If so, is it surprising — there being so many in com- 
pany — that one should rely upon another, and that the 
things should be left? Nor is it remarkable that Paul, 
when he found that they had been left, should, neverthe- 
less, prosecute his journey and await an opportunity of 
sending for them, or meditate a third visit to this city. 
At Jerusalem immediately after his arrival he was ar- 
rested, and was not released till after he had been con- 
veyed to Rome. After his release he visited Spain, and, 
perhaps, some other places, and on his return to the capital 
of the empire was imprisoned again, not to be released 
but by martyrdom. And now he is expecting his exe- 
cution; he remembers that his papers are at Troas, and, 
as these constituted in all probability his all in the 
world, he was anxious to have them, that he might dis- 
pose of them to the best advantage of the Church. Is 
this the course of an impostor? That bundle of books 
doubtless contained important documents, probably notes 
of his journeys, accounts of his controversies with Bar- 
nabas about Mark, and with Peter concerning the part 



INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 287 

he took in the perilous controversy at Antioch, perhaps 
the commission which was given to him by Barnabas to 
go up to the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, about the 
vexed question and the original draft of the letters sent 
by the council to the brethren in Antioch, and Syria, 
and Cilicia, and very likely the original letters which 
he addressed to the Corinthian and Roman Churches, 
together with his correspondence with the apostles. 

Imagine that Joe Smith had arrived with a few dis- 
ciples at Cincinnati, on his way to Missouri. He puts 
up with a friend who has embraced the Mormon faith. 
Having some business some miles down the river, he 
determines to go on foot to North Bend, and directs his 
disciples who are in company to take the Ben Franklin 
steamboat the next day and see that she touches at the 
Bend for him. But he has with him the books, and the 
parchments, the original golden plates, his correspond- 
ence with Rigdon, the agreement entered into between 
them concerning the government of the community, and 
the disposition of the spoils, and the whole plan of ac- 
tion, so far as concerted ; these make a heavy bundle, and 
he can not well carry them. Will he leave them in 
charge of his young disciples, directing them to bring 
them when they come? They may forget them, and if 
they should, what might be the consequences? The 
city is full of his enemies; the neighbors, the friends, 
the visitors, the relatives of the disciple who has hos- 
pitably entertained him, are his bitterest foes; they re- 
gard him as the hateful impostor, and would do any 
thing in their power to undeceive the deluded family 
who have embraced his false faith, and thereby brought 
poverty and disgrace upon themselves and shame upon 
their connections. Moreover, the youthful converts may 
feel disposed to examine these curious documents, and 
their scrutinizing eyes may see too much for their faith, 



288 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

and, burning with indignation, make an exposition of 
the whole plot. Would the archimpostor leave his bun- 
dle under such circumstances? Nay, sooner would 
he leave his right arm. Suppose he had committed 
such a mistake, when he got on board at North Bend 
and found that the disciples had forgotten the papers, 
would he have calmly pursued his voyage, and suffered 
them to remain at Cincinnati month after month, year 
after year, till, expecting to die, he requests, in a post- 
script to a letter written to a friend in Louisville, whom 
he expects to visit him, that he will go up to Cincinnati 
before he starts and get them and bring them to him? 
Suppose he had done so, soon would the report of the 
mysterious bundle have spread among the disciples of 
Mormonism in the city, and one and another would have 
gone to see them to satisfy their minds, wsuld have re- 
quested a sight, and soon would all the secrets have 
come to light. In less than a year there would not have 
been a Mormon on the face of the earth. 

Is there no use in such a natural, undesigned proof of 
apostolic integrity? But view the passage in another 
light. Look into this Homan prison ; you see in this 
damp, gloomy dungeon an old man with a rude fixture 
before him writing; his form is slender, his hair gray, 
his cheeks pallid, and his broad brow plowed with pre- 
mature wrinkles; his eye is keen and penetrating, and 
his whole countenance indicates deep thought, unshaken 
firmness, undisturbed serenity, and boundless benevo- 
lence. Thirty years ago he was one of the leading 
minds of Jerusalem — gifted, talented, educated in all 
the learning of his age, ardent in temperament, ada- 
mantine in will, unblemished in reputation, fortunate in 
his connections, and ambitious of renown, he bade fair 
for honor, wealth, and power. In a happy hour he saw 
in light that blinded him and loveliness that subdued 



INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 289 

hiui that Jesus whom he persecuted; instantly he be- 
came crucified to this world and this world unto him. 

The youth will lie down on the pallet of straw in 
the hope that his hoary head shall repose on a pillow 
of down. But the apostle has now reached the end of 
his mortal career. After his life of sacrifice and toil he 
finds his aged body reposing upon the floor of a dun- 
geon. The winter is approaching, and he has no cloak; 
no money to purchase one; no friend to lend him one; 
many chilly and rainy days may occur before he is led 
out to execution. The robbers and murderers that are 
with him perhaps have friends who supply them with 
comfortable garments ; perhaps each may have a father 
or a brother to attend him, and wrap the cloak around 
him when he is led out to die ; but, alas ! who will do 
this office for the great apostle of the Gentiles, who is 
doomed to die for preaching Jesus and him crucified 
with such power as to convert the wickedest of Nero's 
household? " Go, Timothy, and bring my cloak/' Ah! 
who can tell what power are in these words ! Yonder is 
an itinerant, who has left all to look up the lost sheep in 
the wilderness: he has lost his road, and has been trav- 
eling all day without food. Night has overtaken him, 
the storm is howling around; before him is a swollen 
creek, behind a perilous and pathless wilderness; on 
this side an unexplored swamp, and on that a broad 
river; fatigue, and anxiety, and abstinence have over- 
powered him; and, tying his horse to a sapling, he 
wraps his cloak around him and lies down upon the 
beach, perhaps to be taken up in the morning a frozen 
corpse. And now his throbbing heart begins to rebel; 
he wonders why he who has given up all for Christ, 
and knows no motive but God's glory, should be thus 
abandoned by the divine Providence; but he checks him- 
self, and his tears flow when he sees an apostle awaiting 

25 



290 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

the crown of martyrdom, lying down upon the dungeon 
floor cloakless; and he would no more spare this sen- 
tence than that other pathetic one, "The foxes have 
holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son 
of man hath not where to lay his head." Say not that 
there are insignificant details in the book of God. 

2. It is said there are errors in the word of God — 
errors in chronology, and in its- references to collateral 
history. Christianity has had its enemies for eighteen 
hundred years; they have been looking for its errors 
during all that period. If talent, education, and re- 
search, animated by malice, could have found them in 
more than seventeen centuries of toil, they would not be 
now unknown. Often has infidelity thought its search 
successful, but as often as it has alleged an error it has 
met an answer. And at this day I venture to say that 
no intelligent infidel will stake his reputation upon a 
single one of the innumerable chronological or histor- 
ical errors, which it has been stated at different times 
have been found in the Bible. They have all been 
traced to ignorance in the reader or mistake in the 
translator. You ask, Does the Bible contain no errors 
in science ? Every other book of early ages does. We say 
not merely every scientific book, but we challenge the world 
to produce a book of early ages — we might say any 
age — which does not assert or imply scientific principles 
which the present age condemns. Who is the author 
that has escaped? Not Virgil, not Homer, not Plato, 
not Seneca, not Xenophon, not Anaxagoras, not Cicero, 
not Socrates. All proceed, for instance, upon the sup- 
position of four elements. Where is the cosmogony of 
India, of Greece, of every land without the Bible ? In 
the thick darkness. One system teaches that the earth 
stands upon a tortoise, and the tortoise upon an elephant; 
one teaches that the earth is seven stories high; and 



INSPIRATION OP THE BIBLE. 291 

another that it is a plain, in shape of a triangle; and 
another avers that it is supported by mountains and held 
fast by anchors. And now we point to the Bible, a book 
of fifty authors, some of whom were the earliest of all 
writers, writing while the earth was filled with darkness 
all around, and we dare the world to prove an error upon 
it, Will one say it speaks of the earth as fixed and the 
heavenly bodies as revolving around it? How else should 
it speak? Had it spoken otherwise, would it have been 
understood ? Would God, suppose ye, make a revelation 
to France in the language of China; but as well have 
addressed the Hebrews in modern German, as to have 
spoken of earth's nadir, and the plane of Jupiter's orbit. 
Would you, in conversing with children, use the language 
of Newton's Principia? Suppose that to-morrow evening 
Prof. If. were to request his class to meet him on the 
campus, to spend as much time as possible during the 
coming night in surveying the moon. In what language 
would he announce his desire? I venture to say, in just 
such as the Bible uses. "Young gentlemen, meet me at 
the rising of the moon, prepared to continue on the field 
till its setting." And would any of you infer from this 
that he was ignorant of the Copernican system? Nay. 
But had he employed terms indicative of his knowledge 
of that system, you would have regarded him as a pedant. 
If a philosopher, speaking to collegians in the nineteenth 
century, would not use scientific terms on ordinary occa- 
sions, why should the Bible, in speaking to semi-barba- 
rians, who never heard of a telescope? But you ask, 
why did not the Almighty reveal the unknown and glori- 
ous truths of astronomy? Had he done so, I might ask, 
why he did not reveal the whole encyclopedia ? 

If this is a charge against the Bible, it holds equally 
against providence, which suffers truth, algebraic, mathe- 
matical, and philosophical, to remain concealed age after 



292 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

age, till the unaided human mind, urged by the stimulus 
of curiosity, and rewarded by the success of its labors, 
gradually discovers it. 

Another error has been alleged; namely, that the Bi- 
ble dates the origin of creation no more than six thou- 
sand years back, while geology shows conclusively that it 
must have been millions of years in process of formation. 
I have no quarrel with geology — in the name of Christi- 
anity I thank her; she has done good service. Once de- 
ism said, the present order of things has existed from 
eternity. It can say so no longer. Once atheism said, 
the world came by chance. Now geology, pointing to the 
hand-marks of God, coming out in destructive and crea- 
tive energy, and retiring again and again, puts chance at 
a sightless distance. Once paganism said, the race of 
man is thousands of years older than revelation asserts. 
Geology dates its origin when Moses does. Once deism 
doubted the fact of the Deluge; now its doubts are re- 
solved. But is not geology at war with Genesis in regard 
to the date of creation? Not at all. Is not the creation 
more than six thousand years old? Does the Bible say it 
is not? When does it say God created the heavens and 
the earth? "In the beginning." Geology may travel 
over as many millions of centuries as it pleases — it can 
not get behind the beginning. It has been discovered 
that two chapters have been run into on£ The first term- 
inated at the second verse. The account which follows 
the announcement that God made the heavens and the 
earth, is a description of the manner in which the Creator 
fitted up the globe for the residence of man, and supplied 
it with forms of vegetation and animated nature, adapted 
to its last great epoch. I have noticed the only import- 
ant objections of a scientific nature, which I have heard 
brought against the Bible. I see no force in them. It 
were sufficient here to stop, but we may advance another 



INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 293 

step, and having vindicated the Bible from the charge of 
philosophical mistake, may aver that it gleams all through 
with the true philosophy, evidently teaching as one who 
knows more than he reveals. Look yonder at Toricelli, 
the pupil of Galileo, astonishing the world with the dis- 
covery that the air we breathe has weight. A century 
and more revolves, and lo! a new discovery, that the air 
is compounded of three gases, mixed with such surpris- 
ing accuracy, and managed with such constant skill, that 
they maintain the same relative proportion in the valley 
and on the mountain-top, in the city and in the plain. 
Behold ! another discovery : water, heretofore considered 
an element, is found to be a combination of two airs, 
united in certain definite proportions. 

Look back, now, three thousand years, and you find a 
pen in the Arabian desert writing these words: "For he 
looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the 
whole heaven: to make the weight for the winds; and 
he weigheth the waters by measure." 

The world was near six thousand years old when Har- 
vey discovered the circulation of the blood; but Solomon, 
when Jerusalem was in the zenith of her glory, wrote, 
"Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl 
be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or 
the wheel broken at the cistern. " A most beautiful, 
poetical description of the spinal marrow, the heart, the 
aorta, and the vena cava. Comparatively recent the pe- 
riod in which the doctrine of earth's sphericity was re- 
ceived throughout the scientific world ; yet the evangel- 
ical prophet, five hundred years before the birth of Christ, 
in one of his sublime hymns to the praise of God, ex- 
claims, "He sitteth upon the circle of the earth." Her- 
schel teaches that light is a luminous atmosphere, sur- 
rounding, but not emanating from the sun, which he sup- 
poses to be opaque. Lo ! the first page of revelation 



294 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

not only exhibits this very philosophy, but assigns the 
reason. 

It was the crowning triumph of modern philosophy to 
demonstrate that the earth circulates in space, and pre- 
serves its relations by impulse and attraction ; but could 
he have been ignorant of this truth who, shortly after 
the Deluge, dictated these lines: "He stretcheth out the 
north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon 
nothing ?" It has long been known that the universe re- 
volves round some fixed point; that point is now ascer- 
tained to be in or near one of the pleiades. Read then 
this verse: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences V etc. 

I close this part of the subject with two reflections: 

1. Science is perpetually changing. Often the discov- 
ery of one day is exploded the next. Great as have been 
the achievements of philosophy, she is yet in her infancy; 
and the day may come when posterity shall regard our 
science with the contempt wherewith we regard that of 
Anaxagoras or Paracelsus; but philosophy, with all her 
advances, can never arrive at a point where she shall look 
with a scornful eye upon the incidental glances of science 
which the Scriptures contain. Never, as we conceive, 
can the day come when true science shall say, God never 
made the heavens and the earth; never shall she say, 
they were not created in the beginning; never shall she 
affirm that the blood does not circulate, or that the air is 
not mixed by weight, or the waters by measure, or that 
the earth is not circular, or that the north is not over 
the empty place, or that the globe hangs not upon 
nothing. 

2. While science is steadily sailing farther and farther 
from all the philosophy, and all the theology, and all the 
mythology of past ages, she is constantly advancing to- 
ward the Bible. Little philosophers may sneer at the 
Scripture- — Newton, the father of them all, worships; 



INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE. 295 

little metaphysicians may trifle — Locke, looking down 
upon them ; pities them, and looking up to Jesus, believes 
and adores. The early geologists thought they had dis- 
covered a contradiction between Moses and the handwrit- 
ing of God upon the globe — Cuvier, sublime above them 
all, pronounces that there is a divine harmony between 
those revelations. 

As science has, in her advance, converted passages of 
God's word which, in the darkness of past ages, were 
opaque, into transparent windows, through which we can 
look in upon the divine Hand, is it unreasonable to sup- 
pose that in her further progress she may prove that 
every line of holy writ glows as intensely with scientific 
as with religious light? 

Reader, venerate the Bible as the test of truth, the 
fountain of peace, the source of blessedness. Approach 
its laws as you would the Mediator descending from the 
mountain, with a face bright with the glories of opening 
heaven j approach its prophets as you would the chariot 
of ascending Elijah, with its cavalcade of heavenly horse- 
men ; approach its evangelists as you would a college of 
translated apostles, speaking with tongues of celestial 
fire; listen to its Psalms as you would to an orchestra of 
angels; draw near to it, as to Him whose very garment 
was healing; touch its words only in view of the closing 
curse of the sacred canon : "If any man shall add unto 
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that 
are written in this book; and if any man take away from 
the words of the prophecy of this book, God shall take 
away his part out of the book of life." 

Distribute the Bible. If it is inspired of God, it must 
be adapted to man. The omniscient One knew, before he 
breathed upon his prophets, what man is, and what is in 
hini, and what he requires. He foresaw the ignorance, 
the dullness, and the perversity of men; and if he had 



296 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

not intended the word for all ages, all grades of civiliza- 
tion, all degrees of knowledge, and all shades, both of 
depravity and holiness, he would have explained the ex- 
ceptions. All experience shows that the Bible is as well 
adapted for one class and one age as another; that it 
may safely be given to all the people, to even the lowest 
of the people; to all tribes, and kindred, and tongues 
alike. Mother Church alleges otherwise; but with what 
reason ? She says the people can not understand. 

Three hundred years have passed, since the Bible was 
put into the hands of the people — all the people — young, 
old, grave, gay, wise, simple; some enthusiasts, some su- 
perstitious, some insane; it has been read in France, 
Germany, Switzerland, Norway; indeed, in two hundred 
and fifty living languages. Now, where is there a farmer 
whose plow it has stopped ; a baker whose bread it has 
spoiled; a man, woman, child, idiot, or maniac, whose 
eye it has put out, or whose hand it has cut off? 

Men tell us now, that the book is unsuitable for 
schools, unsuitable for common people, because it has fig- 
ures of speech and obsolete words ; yet where is the peo- 
ple who use figures, and understand figures, and relish 
figures like the common people, even the lowest of the 
common people? Where is the people who use obsolete 
terms more than they, or understand them better? 
Which of them was ever prevented from seeking Christ 
by the phrase, " preventing grace/' or hindered in his 
way to heaven by reading "letteth" for "hindereth," 
or rendered loose in his graces by reading "taches" in- 
stead of "buttons," in the description of the tabernacle? 

We grant that the doctrines of the Bible demand 
awakened intellect; but the Bible awakens mind, it 
quickens and strengthens all its energies. Men accus- 
tomed to think with Moses, to. meditate with David, to 
soar with Isaiah, to narrate with Matthew, to reason with 



INSPIRATION OP THE BIBLE. 297 

Paul, and rise heavenward on the wing of ascended John, 
will have powers fitted to comprehend the scheme of re- 
deeming love. They who withhold the Bible till the 
mind is fitted to understand, are like them who will not 
bring the tenants of the dark, noxious cave into the light 
and air, till they have recovered their color, and strength, 
and vivacity. No preparation is necessary for the Bible; 
it is well fitted for the whole moral globe, as the atmos- 
phere is for the terraqueous one. To give this book to a 
people, is to give — as a general result — intelligence, in- 
dustry, thrift, law, liberty, salvation. 

In this land it is the only conservator, the only reliable 
policy of insurance on property, the only powerful police 
for the protection of character and person, the only secu- 
rity for the perpetuity of freedom. 



298 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



S-mif itj[ 0f tip §t&h, 

MOST men believe that the world in which we live is 
so governed that ultimately wrong is punished and 
right rewarded. But what is right and wrong? Shall 
we rely upon human reason to ascertain ? Alas ! in its 
best estate it is but an imperfect instrument; its com- 
pass and reach is short; nor is it consistent with itself 
even within its own bounds. I never can be happy while 
I am uncertain whether my conduct will ultimate in mis- 
ery or joy. Nor would my case be better could I per- 
suade myself there is no God; for something rules the 
world, and rules it upon fixed principles, and so rules it 
as to punish one course of action, and reward another. 
No matter whether I call this something Chance, or God; 
the facts are the same. 

But most, may I not say all of us, believe in God. 
Whether the idea of the supreme Being could be discov- 
ered by human mind I inquire not now; but once let the 
idea be given, and it can not be rejected by a sane mind; 
as well expect the intellect to disbelieve the axioms of 
geometry, or doubt the truth of the Copernican system, 
after comprehending the demonstrations of Kepler and 
Newton. Who that has led his soul up to the glorious 
idea of the divine Being, does not wish to know more of 
him? You send me to his works! I know we must go 
to them to be impressed with his natural attributes, his 
power and wisdom; but I would fain be introduced to his 
presence chamber; hide me in some cleft of the rock, 



NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 299 

that I may see him pass by. I would fain commune with 
him; he is my father; he gave me my body and my soul; 
he has endowed me with means of happiness and facul- 
ties for an immortal life; he gave me my parents, and 
gave them their love and tenderness for me; he has 
raised me from the bed of sickness, and daily loaded me 
with benefits; he knows my thoughts and my feelings 
better than all my friends do. I would feel after him, 
and find him; I would order my cause before him; I 
would thank him for his mercies to me, and to all men; I 
would call him father, I would have him call me son, and 
pity me, and bless me, and impress his Spirit upon me, 
and tell me how I may please him. My strongest aspira- 
tions are after the living God. I speak the language of 
the human heart when once brought to sincere thought. 
Could an angel form a man from the rock, no sooner 
would he breathe into him the breath of life, and inform 
him of his origin, than that being would fall down at the 
feet of its maker to adore and praise. And who art thou, 
man, that dost not uncover thy head and bow thy knee, 
in this deep universe, to adore the universal Father? 
Yonder is a lone child in the wilderness, but he has a 
home ; at night he finds a downy pillow, at morn a 
blazing fire; at dawn, at noon, at dewy eve, a table sup- 
plied with bounties; an unseen hand spreads carpets 
under his feet, hangs damask over his head, suspends 
brilliant lamps in his hall, and brings beauteous birds to 
sing beneath his windows. Wherever he goes he sees 
the traces of some one who attends him in mercy and 
love; and when he slumbers he dreams of some warm 
and soft hand upon his breast, feeling the pulsations of 
his heart, and some lovely countenance watching with 
anxious eyes his sleeping head. How long would that 
child be before it looked for a father? how would it 
search in this corner and in that ! and if, perchance, it 



300 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

found a footstep or a hand-trace, methinks it would weep 
for joy; and if it were baffled in the search, it would 
sigh and cry, "0, my father, where art thou? hide not 
from me, speak to me; I long to put my arms around thy 
neck, and kiss thee, and tell thee how I love thee." 
And what art thou, child of man? not an orphan in a 
fatherless world; thou walkest a green earth, beneath a 
golden sky; thou gatherest mercies all the day, and sleep- 
est beneath the wings of love. Thy heart wants God; 
and though men in the scenes of business, or pleasure, 
or excitement, may forget their Maker, ever and anon the 
heart will look up and say, 

" Earth has engrossed my love too long ; 
'Tis time I lift mine eyes 
Upward, dear Father, to thy throne, 
And to my native skies." 

Even the poor outcast feels that he has a God; and it is 
the dreadful thought that he has wandered from him, 
more than the frowns and punishments of society that 
makes the world a desert before his footsteps. The 
throned monarch in the midst of his flatterers, feels his 
heart sink like lead within him, under the deep con- 
sciousness that he has not found God. Acquaintance with 
God is a universal want; but where shall we find him, or 
who may introduce us? The depth saith, he is not in me, 
and the sea saith, he is not with me; the earth is silent, 
and the heavens utter no voice. And yet we have seen 
men whose faces did shine, though they wist it not. 
There is some sacred mount where men, like Moses, can 
converse with God. The blessed volume alone unfolds 
the gates to it. 

The heart wants a perfect object for its affections. 
We are capable of unmingled love; but unmingled love 
implies unmingled purity; and where shall we find this? 
We look around upon father, mother, wife, child, friend, 



NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 301 

and we love them all, but find in every one what they find 
in us, the marks of imperfection, and the traces of sin. 
We are capable of loving without intermission; but all 
the objects around us are subject to change, in character, 
in position, and in relation to ourselves. We are capable 
of loving intensely, but not without intense emotions of 
admiration and delight; nor can we have them without 
the perception of an object infinitely lovely. We must 
always be sensible of a void while our heart's best affec- 
tions are unexercised. To make us fully happy they 
must be fully developed. They can never be fully devel- 
oped till we behold Plim in whom all possible perfection 
centers, and who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
ever. How shall we behold him in all his loveliness ? It 
is not necessary to see him with mortal eye; we can love 
our father who lies in the grave, even though we may 
never have seen him, if we but trace his character in the 
history of his life. We can love our Father in heaven, 
though he dwells in light inaccessible, if we but have a 
record of his words of love, or of the agonies of his Son 
upon the cross. 

We find ourselves in a world of disappointment, afflic- 
tion, and bereavement; we want something to buoy us up 
when sorrows come down upon our souls. Yonder is a 
youth, who for many years labored hard to acquire for- 
tune. He was so far successful as to lay up a considera- 
ble sum; but in an unlucky hour he suddenly lost it all. 
He turns his eyes upon an institution of learning, and, 
panting after less perishable riches, enters its gates. 
See! He labors with ardor and with hope; he endures 
privation, mortifies his pride, keeps his body under, and 
night after night, breaking off his slumbers in the midst, 
and rising to turn his beaming eyes upon the page, he 
cries after knowledge, and lifts up his voice for under- 
standing. Already he has passed the threshold of 



302 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Fame's temple, whose golden summit looms upon his vis- 
ion. But look again; enter this dormitory; there he is, 
half dressed, seated on his bed, leaning his drooping 
head upon the bosom of his kind and sympathizing room- 
mate; he speaks in whispers, and ever and anon an omi- 
nous cough arouses him; and as he coughs, blood rushes 
from his mouth and nostrils, and pours in a stream into 
the red basin at his feet. As you turn to the anxious 
countenance of the physician, and read upon it, there is 
no help in man, none in means, do you not cry, invol- 
untarily, " God, bless the dear youth ?" You know he 
needs God's blessing. Come again to his bedside, when 
the bustle of alarm has ceased; and as you see him lying 
pale and emaciated upon his couch — a couch unattended 
by a mother's footsteps, unsoftened by a sister's hand, 
uncheered by a father's prayers — feel his heart; maybe 
he had forgotten God ; perchance blasphemed his name, 
and despised his people; but now he prays. 0, his soul 
is desolate in the earth ! it has deep wants, and turns to 
religion, as the needle to the pole. You take the Bible 
and read to him, "Like as a father pitieth his children, 
so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." " Whom the 
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom 
he receiveth." "These light afflictions, which are but for 
a season," etc. "All things work together for good to 
them that love God." You may read to him from Euclid 
or from Plato, from Shakspeare or from Milton, and he 
will turn away with disgust; but these sentences are mu- 
sic to his troubled soul, and balm to his suffering body. 
Take another case : While the youth on yonder campus 
are sending up the shouts of gladness as they toss the 
ball, a messenger arrives to tell them that a fellow-student 
is drowning. Instantly they rush, pale and trembling, 
to the bank of the stream. Two men in the midst of the 
river have just raised the body from the surface. As the 



NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 303 

water drips from the motionless head, an impression comes 
over us that all is gone ; we receive him upon the shore, 
gather the physicians about us, and try every expedient 
to restore animation, but in vain. Hope being extin- 
guished, we wrap the corpse in the winding-sheet, place 
it upon a plank, and committing it to tender hands, fol- 
low it in procession to the boarding-house. We weep and 
mourn, but the worst is to come. Two strangers have 
been traveling for three days past, in the most happy 
mood, occasioned by joyous expectations. Scarcely have 
we laid out the corpse when their carriage comes up to the 
door. They are the mother and father of the deceased, 
and he was their only son. How shall we tell them ? 
How take them to the chamber of the dead ? How look 
upon the mother as she kisses her departed child? 0, 
God, hide me from the sight ! But lo ! she kneels as she 
kisses the lips, and calmly says as she weeps, " The Lord 
gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the 
name of the Lord." She has found a balm in Gilead, 
and she drinks a mingled cup. 0, who would rob the 
child of sorrow of the physician in her heart ! 

The sense of guilt pervades human hearts. With the 
idea of God springs up a conviction of obligation to him; 
universal, perpetual, and more profound than can be ex- 
pressed. This is followed at no great distance with a 
painful suspicion that this obligation has been violated, 
and an apprehension of punishment proportionate to its 
magnitude. The holiest man is the last to plead exemp- 
tion from sin. Happy he who does not accuse himself 
of numerous habits of transgression against God; and 
where is the accountable son of Adam who does not con- 
fess unnumbered acts? Tffe man who acquits himself of 
having sinned, by that very admission either increases 
his iniquity or proves himself to have committed the 
worst of crimes — the searing of his conscience, or the 



304 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

stupefaction of his intellect — a searing and a stupefac- 
tion which must cease as the king of terrors advances. 
The world lieth in guilt. The Jew, with his anticipa- 
ted Messiah; the Christian, with his crucified Savior; 
the pagan, with his bleeding victim; the whole world 
confesses guilt. The question, the distressing question 
of the soul is, What will become of me; will God par- 
don, or will he curse ? Nature has no answer, Providence 
has none. Earth's plagues and pestilences, her burning 
and her dislocated mountains; man's doom to toil, and sub- 
jection to care, the precariousness of his subsistence, and 
the disappointment of his hopes, afford grounds for the 
sinner's most dreadful apprehensions. From this what 
shall relieve him? 0, tell him not of sweet sounds, 
and green and goodly sights ; of marshaled hosts, and 
battle scenes, and laurel wreaths, and dreams of bliss; 
he will go through them all, pressing down in the deep 
of his heart the dread inquiry, 

" Canst thou pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow ; 
Raze out the written trouble of the brain ; 
And, with some sweet, oblivous antidote, cleanse 
The stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff 
That weighs upon the heart ?" 

True, there may be moments of care and of amuse- 
ment, when he may forget himself; but then again, in 
unexpected hours, the ghost of his buried conscience will 
rise from the sepulcher of his soul, and refuse to down at 
his bidding. Merciful God, must we thus spend life in 
bondage to fear? No! There must be a voice which 
speaks from heaven. 

Could we be assured of pardon, there would be some- 
thing more necessary, as is obvious from the following 
admitted principles : 

Man is endowed with mental and moral faculties capa- 
ble of progressive improvement. For this improvement 



NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 305 

he is responsible. The rule by which he is at any given 
moment to be judged is obtained by multiplying his in- 
tellectual and moral capacities into his means of improve- 
ment, and both into the period during which he has 
been accountable. Hence, this rule requires more at any 
given moment of his existence, than at any moment 
which has preceded it. Suppose a man who has sinned 
for twenty years, to obtain, by repentance and faith, a full 
pardon, and to become, relatively, as holy as the angels in 
heaven; the next moment he would fall into condemna- 
tion, for the sins of twenty years would so have impaired 
his intellectual and moral powers, that he would be una- 
ble to meet the progressive demands of the law, even 
should he do every thing which his present reason and 
conscience dictate ; nor would he be able, by the most 
perfect future obedience which he could render, ever to 
fulfill his obligations. 

Let me illustrate. It is a law of motion that bodies 
moving under the influence of any constant force, pass 
over spaces increasing each instant as the odd numbers 1, 
3, 5, 7, etc., and the whole space is directly as the square 
of the time. Suppose a body within the sphere of the 
sun's attraction let fall toward the bosom of that orb; 
and suppose that, twenty minutes after, another body be 
started from the same point, and with the same impulse; 
would the latter ever overtake the former, even though 
the sun should perpetually retreat from before them, so 
as to give them eternity for the race? 

God gives us power of progressive approach to him, 
under the influence of a constant moral force, and for 
this power he holds us accountable. If we delay a mo- 
ment — much less rush the other way for twenty years — we 
must forever fall behind his demands, unless some new 
impulse be vouchsafed. But where is this impulse to 
come from? To this question there is no answer in 

26 



306 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

nature or the progress of events; the soul can never 
discover it by reflection ; it has no data upon which to 
proceed; it is doomed to eternal despair of ever being 
able to meet the requirements of its Maker, unless a 
voice from heaven speak. 

But we have not yet reached the limits of the case. 
Few among those on whom the light of the Gospel 
shines — perhaps none; maybe, none upon the earth, who 
have ever seriously pondered their ways, without being 
convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come, 
and solemnly, earnestly, resolving to obey henceforth 
every conviction of duty. And what has been the result ? 
Is it not — I speak now of the unconverted — described in 
the following words: "For I know that in me — that is, 
in my flesh — dwelleth no good thing; for to will is pres- 
ent with me, but how to perform that which is good I 
find not. For the good that I would, I do not, but the 
evil that I would not, that I do. . . . I find then a 
law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. 
For I see another law in my members warring 
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captiv- 
ity to the law of sin which is in my members. 0, 
wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death V Heart-rending condition ! Unalle- 
viated by any sense of diminished accountability; for it is 
attended with the conviction that it is the result of our 
own deliberate acts, and no more to be pleaded in exten- 
uation, than the murderous madness of the drunkard. 

And must awakened mind lie with this dreadful incu- 
bus upon it? Yes; unless we can thank God for our 
Lord Jesus Christ. 

But suppose that we could put off all consideration of 
the character and claims of God, and the relations and 
obligations of man ; there would still be need of a com- 
munication from God. 



NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 307 

Discontent is general among mankind Who — I speak 
of the unregenerate — is satisfied either with his condition, 
his pursuits ; or his prospects. In youth we sigh for man- 
hood; in manhood, for old age; in old age we cry, "0, 
that I were young V Spring satisfies us not, nor sum- 
mer, nor autumn, nor winter. At day we desire the 
night; and at night — if not wrapt in slumber — wish for 
the morning. In the hight of our prosperity there is a 
Mordecai at the gate ; in the triumphs of our ambition 
there is a Hushai among the counselors ; in the midst of 
our festivities there is a handwriting on the wall; and 
even in the garland there is usually a crawling worm con- 
cealed. We hope for happiness, we pursue it, but we 
chase a shadow; we run after the horizon. True, there 
are many who say they are happy; but are they honest? 
Perchance some are; they think all is well; but they are 
like the maniac, who, while he hugs his chains, thinks 
himself a king, and who is all the while the subject of 
an undefined feeling which leads him to suspect there is 
something wrong with himself. There was one who said, 
"And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. 
I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart re- 
joiced in all my labor; and this was my portion of all 
my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands 
had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do ; 
and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and 
there was no profit under the sun. . . . Therefore 
I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the 
sun is grievous unto me; for all is vanity and vexation of 
spirit." And who has become wiser than Solomon ? 
who has discovered any thing but vanity and vexation of 
spirit under the sun? Melancholy condition of human- 
ity! The brute feeds and lies down in pastures, satisfied; 
while his owner, in the image of God, with a hundred 
provinces — a prey to care — is weary of his life. And is 



308 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

there no remedy? Philosophy has one; it consists in 
imbruting man, in destroying his sensibilities; but who 
would not rather suffer than accept the cure ? Child of 
sorrow, Eeligion has a remedy which leaves your sensibil- 
ities — which even refines and strengthens them. She 
points to a world of light and love, of purity and blessed- 
ness, unmixed and eternal. Embracing her thou canst, 
when afflicted, say, 

" 0, what are all my sufferings here, 
If, Lord, thou count me meet, 

With that enraptured host to appear, 
And worship at thy feet?" 

while in periods of prosperity thou canst say, 

" I would not live always, I ask not to stay 
Where storm after storm rises dark o'er the way." 

"We admit that every man has immense moral. power, 
and of himself he knows not how safely to use it. Sup- 
pose a man be furnished with a match in the immediate 
vicinity of a circle of straw, stretching round the globe, 
and connected at different points with mines of gunpow- 
der; would he not be careful how he used that match? 
would he dare apply it to the combustible without an as- 
surance from Him who knows all things, that all is 
right? Is not mankind social — irresistibly so ? do they 
not link hands with each other so as to form a chain all 
round the globe? Apply then an influence at one part 
of this chain, and it will travel — may be — round the 
earth. Suppose a man had an assurance, that by firing a 
certain mass of straw he would not only girdle the earth 
with fire, but with self-perpetuating flames; would he not 
tremble to hold a match near it? But art not thou that 
very man ? Is not one generation connected with an- 
other, so that the evil or the good that men do will be 
felt to the end of time? The blood of Abel will cry to 



NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 309 

the last man that stands upon the ground. Once more; 
let a man stand where he may not only gird the earth 
with flame that shall perpetuate itself till it mingles with 
the fires of the last day, but may burn on forever, and 
send its sparks from world to world, till it encircles the 
universe with eternal blaze; would he dare use it without 
a directing voice from on high? And have we no reason 
to suppose that the soul is immortal, and that character 
is immutable beyond the grave? And as all physical 
worlds are connected, may not all moral worlds be so? 
that as sin spread from angels to men, it may spread from 
men to angels? as holiness descended from heaven to 
earth, so it may mount from earth to heaven ? The sul- 
phurous fire kindled by the torch of Byron, still burns 
in a livid circle around earth, and — may be — in another 
around hell ; and it may burn world without end; and 
who knows but in eternity to come it may spread its in- 
fernal heat all round the zodiac ? 

How little do we know of the soul, or of the world to 
come; of the body, even, or of the world that now is! 
"0, God, teach us how we are to speak and act/' is the 
prayer of every serious mind that has been brought to re- 
flection upon the power over spirits which, in the prov- 
idence of God, has been committed to its keeping. 

Hence, we, like all men, in all ages, unconsciously feel 
for a God. Pagan nations have their oracles, their conju- 
rers, their divinations, their altars, their divinities; we 
have our religion of the Lord Jesus, or, if we reject this, 
our superstitions, our inward illuminations, our spirit 
manifestations. Every one has his revelation, if not his 
psalm. Deists — if any — we should suppose, would be ex- 
ceptions, but they are not. Take an example — Lord Her- 
bert, the prince of modern infidels: he says, " I took 
my book, De Veritate, and kneeling devoutly on my knees, 
said these words — <0, thou eternal God, author of the 



310 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

light which now shines upon me, and giver of all inward 
illuminations, I beseech thee of thy infinite goodness to 
pardon a greater request than a sinner ought to make. I 
am not satisfied enough whether I ought to publish this 
book, De Veritate. If it be for thy glory, give me some 
sign from heaven; if not, I shall suppress it/ I had no 
sooner spoken these words, but a loud, though yet gentle 
noise came from the heavens, for it was like nothing on 
earth; which did so comfort and cheer me, that I took 
my petition as granted, and that I had the sign de- 
manded." Here is a brave and strong-minded, but 
wicked man, who has written a book against revealed re- 
ligion, founding his chief argument on the improbability 
that God would communicate his will to a part of the 
world only, yet introducing that very book with a state- 
ment that he believes God made a revelation to one man 
only — himself — thus oversetting his whole argument, by 
yielding to an instinct of his nature. I care not how you 
account for this universal looking for a revelation. Say 
that it is tradition ; you must trace it to the parent family 
of the earth, which is as the voice of God. Say that it 
is a conscious sense of ignorance, and felt need of super- 
natural light, or an original propensity of our nature; 
there to is in your breast; it cannot be satisfied without a 
Divine revelation. 

Finally : we believe that we must die. We find, one by 
one, as we approach the borders of the other world, the 
need of light from heaven. There is an instinctive 
dread of death, common to us and inferior animals, and 
implanted in us for our protection in sudden emergen- 
cies ; but in addition to this, there are considerations 
which clothe death in terrors even to the most serious 
mind. 'Tis painful to look for the last time upon that 
glorious sun and this green earth ; to part without hope 
of recovery from the honors and riches which have cost 



NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 311 

us years of toil, of solicitude, and privation; and to see 
the curtain drop upon the goodly prospects which we have 
long surveyed with so much elation; to close our eyes for- 
ever upon our friends, and to bid a final farewell to the 
wife of our youth, and the sweet babes that have played 
at our feet, and learned to call us father. I fancy I see 
the dying man receiving the last kiss; he slowly raises 
his cold and pulseless arms, and places them softly around 
the neck of his beloved, and whispers in her ear, "My 
wife, I love you more than I can now tell you; you have 
loved me more than I deserved; your kindness rises all 
before me, and particularly the pity and care with which 
you have watched, with that sleepless eye, my dying 
couch, and the tenderness and warmth of this your last 
embrace. Forgive, 0, forgive every unkind word I have 
ever uttered, and every unkind thought I have ever, even 
for a moment, harbored, and all the indifference I have 
ever manifested to your welfare or your sufferings. Fain 
would I live to show you that my repentance is sincere, 
and to make the evening of your days the sweetest of 
your life; but I am dying, and these are my last words. " 

His children are placed in his arms, and he whispers 
to them, saying, "Sweet children, precious lambs, you 
can not know how I love you; God only knows. I must 
leave you to the world that loves you not, but I can not 
bear the thought ; one kiss more ere I go hence, and be 
no more/' We need, in this sad hour of parting, that 
which earth can not afford; which will enable us to say, 
"Weep not for me; I ascend to my Father and to your 
Father; to my God and to your God." "A little while 
and ye shall see me again in my Father's house, where 
there are many mansions." 

But there is something in death more dreadful than 
parting with beloved objects. Who can look into the 
grave without a shudder? We recoil instinctively against 



312 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

the thought of annihilation; and even though we recollect 
arguments in favor of it, and recollect crimes which 
make it desirable, yet the heart will not let us rest here. 
We believe there is a world beyond; we believe we must 
appear before God; we know from the administration of 
this world, that God is holy and just; we have reason to 
think that this life is a probationary existence, and as we 
reach its limits, violated laws, hypocritical masks, ungov- 
erned passions, unbridled appetites, forgotten blasphe- 
mies, and broken vows, are called up by a quickened 
memory, and set in gloomy panorama before the inflamed 
eyeball of an awakened conscience, as we stand ready to 
leap into the dark and fathomless abyss of eternity. 
Well may the sinner exclaim, under such circumstances, 
as one whose dying exclamation seems still to ring in my 
ears, a 0, what a fool, 0, what a fool was 1 1" or, as he 
looks up to God, cry, as the expiring Altamont, "Hell 
itself is a refuge, if it hide me from thy frowns !" 0, at 
such an hour, how welcome is the good news of the Gos- 
pel, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, 
that whosoever believeth should not perish, but have 
everlasting life I" How precious the sight of the blood 
of Jesus, as a Lamb slain ! Nor is it merely in the ar- 
ticle of death that we need this great sight, for the living 
know that they must die; and there are many circumstan- 
ces transpiring before their eyes to force them to reflect 
upon their end. 

Such, then, are the wants of the soul ; namely, an in- 
fallible guide to virtue ; knowledge of the moral charac- 
ter of God; a perfect object for the affections; removal 
of the sense of guilt; remedy for an impaired moral na- 
ture; removal of discontent, arising under the present 
constitution of things; a safe direction in the exercise 
of moral power; an object of adoration; and a sure sup- 
port in death. 



NECESSITY OF THE BIBLE. 313 

'Tis vain to talk of atheism. Could it be demonstrated 
as clearly as a problem in Euclid, it would make no dif- 
ference. Atheism does not forbid the gratification of 
physical appetite; why, then, of amoral one? If fate, or a 
fortuitous concourse of atoms, brought us into this world, 
it may take us into another; if it has given such deep 
wants in this state of existence, what may it not give us 
in the next? if it punish us for neglecting to supply our 
moral wants here, may it not give us a much sorer pun- 
ishment for the same faults hereafter ? if it has made 
this state an apparent probation, may it not make the 
next a real retribution ? 

Granting that revelation is necessary, where shall we 
find it? Some point us to the Koran, and some to the 
Shaster, and some to the Zendavesta, But what is that 
to thee? You know that a revelation from God is not to 
be found in any of these things; you know that if there 
be a revelation on earth, it is found in the Old and New 
Testaments. Come, then, examine it seriously, patiently, 
prayerfully. 

The facts before us afford a very strong presumption 
that a revelation is given; the most enlightened portion 
of the world presents you with what they allege and be- 
lieve to be one. To refuse to examine, and say you know 
that it is not from God, prior to inquiry, is to imitate the 
folly of the peasant who closes his ears to the astrono- 
mer, and says he knows the world can't turn round. Nay, 
more, considering the importance of the subject, and its 
relations to yourself, it is madness! 

27 



314 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



%\t Gtnt €»r* fat itoib. 

fTlHE Bible is admirably adapted to remove all the evils 
-*- of mortal life. Among these stands poverty. Of 
this we see but little in our own happy country, though 
throughout Europe and Asia it is a great cause of suf- 
fering. Nor are we to be long exempt from it; even 
now, in our eastern cities, there are multitudes dying of 
want. What are the causes of indigence? Chiefly — in 
this country at least — idleness and improvidence; both 
of which are forbidden in the word of God. Look at 
that law which was given on Sinai, while the mount trem- 
bled,, and smoked, and grew terrific with the symbols of 
the divine Majesty; that law graven on stone, to denote 
its perpetuity, and by the finger of God, to signify its au- 
thority; that law requires industry. Not more clearly 
does it denounce the vengeance of Heaven against him 
who violates the Sabbath, than it does against him who 
refuses to labor on the six days that precede it. The 
Gospel is not less exacting than the law. It is an apos- 
tle who says, u If any will not work, neither should he 
eat." The same affirms that "he that provides not for 
his own household, hath denied the faith, and is worse 
than an infidel." The Savior went about doing good, 
and his great embassador to the Gentiles, with the 
care of all the Churches upon his heart, often made 
his own hands minister to his necessities. One of the 
advantages of the Gospel is, its tendency to promote 
our temporal interests : " Seek first the kingdom," etc.; 
" Godliness hath the promise," etc.; "No man hath 



THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 315 

forsaken/' etc. I know we may have industry without 
the Bible; inferior motives, selfish, even vicious ones, 
may impel to unremitting toil; but these motives often fail 
under even a slight change of circumstances. So strong 
is the natural tendencv to indolence, that a divine sane- 

ml ' 

tion seems requisite in order to secure general and unfail- 
ing diligence. Look at facts. Did you ever see a lazy 
Christian? As well look for a holy devil. You have 
seen the poor, contemptible, profane idler, converted, by 
the power of the Gospel, into the contented, cheerful, 
faithful laborer; the pest of society turned into its bene- 
factor. In a small village on the Western Reserve, there 
lived an influential, strong-minded infidel; he was a tiller 
of the earth, and an officer of the state; he was moral 
and thrifty, sober and diligent, his habits having been 
acquired in a Christian family, before his change of 
views on religious subjects. His excellences seemed to 
give him great power; and it was not surprising that 
they should secure for him an extensive influence among 
the youth. In a short time he had the satisfaction of 
finding himself surrounded by fellow-infidels. As his 
hope of salvation rested chiefly upon his moral conduct, 
he was very kind and benevolent to the poor. Finding, 
however, that the drafts upon his resources were becom- 
ing more and more numerous, he started the inquiry how 
it happened, that while all around was prosperity, his 
neighborhood should be getting more and more thriftless. 
In prosecuting this investigation he visited all his neigh- 
bors, and was^ startled to learn that in every house where 
the Bible was found, there was no want; and in every 
abode where the Bible was absent, there was present or 
approaching poverty. Not long after, there came into 
his village an itinerant preacher, who proposed to hold a 
protracted meeting. His place of preaching was an 
old school-house. Here he addressed the people who 



316 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

assembled night after night. He was an able, eloquent, 
and faithful minister of the new covenant ; he presented 
the truth with such power, that it reached the hearts, 
and troubled the consciences of his hearers. Those who 
were skeptical became demon-like, and began to produce 
disturbances among the auditors, and to offer insults to 
the speaker, who, having appealed in vain to their sense 
of justice, character, and propriety, at length dismissed 
them by saying that he felt that he had done his duty to 
them; and seeing that they put the Gospel from them, he 
would turn to those who would receive it with more 
respect. The next morning, while preparing to start 
away, he was visited by the infidel Esq., and urged in the 
most cordial manner to remain, and continue his meet- 
ing. To this solicitation he yielded. In the evening he 
went to his accustomed place of worship, and found his 
usual congregation, whom he addressed as faithfully as 
before; but when he had concluded his discourse, he 
found the disturbance about to be renewed, when his infi- 
del friend, who this evening had been seated just below 
him, rose and addressed the assembly, saying in sub- 
stance, "This man must be treated with respect; the law 
can, and shall protect him. Infidel as I am, I believe he 
is doing a good work. I have been abroad among you, 
and I find that you who revere the Bible, live in prosper- 
ity; you who despise it, are approaching pauperism, if 
not actually in distress. I am alarmed at what I have 
done; I have made you infidels; but in doing so, have I 
not ruined you? Many of you are young men of good 
minds; I have a family of daughters, but I had rather 
follow them all to the grave than to see them united in 
marriage to you. Henceforth I will be the friend of the 
Bible; it is the instrument of good." 

The Bible is as plainly opposed to improvidence as to 
idleness. True, it forbids us to hoard wealth, but it 



THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 317 

requires us to lay it by; to do this regularly, not for our- 
selves, however, but for our fellow-man and for God. By 
closing the avenue to vain and sinful pleasures, regulating 
the passions, moderating the desires, and sobering the 
judgment, it dries up the fountains of extravagance; 
nor is this all, but it sanctifies wealth, just as it does the 
body and the soul, making it as sacred as the victim upon 
the Jewish altar, or the wine upon the Christian's com- 
munion-table. It shows us that giving is happiness, be- 
neficence prosperity; and it leads its votary to economize, 
that he may be able by his liberality to secure additional 
blessings. There are many plans in operation for the re- 
lief of the poor, but you may dispense with them all if 
you will but distribute the Bible, which, inspiring a feel- 
ing that winds up body and soul to the highest pitch of 
energy; infusing a spirit of manly independence that dis- 
dains unnecessary aid; limiting human desires to reason- 
able wants; satisfying these with reasonable expendi- 
tures ; and creating a panting after surplus resources to 
swell the channels of beneficence that flow through the 
world, puts pauperism to a distance. 

Poor, degraded, starving Ireland ! How we pity her ! 
In vain does America send her liberal gifts; in vain does 
England drain her treasury for the green and beautiful 
island; Erin will continue to be poor so long as the 
priesthood withholds from her the Bible. Do but put this 
blessed volume in the hands of her peasantry, and instead 
of thorns will come up the myrtle-tree. 

Another great evil is intemperance. I need not in- 
form you to what extent it prevails, nor how desolating 
are its results ; withering every thing it touches — body, 
soul, character, and estate. I need not say that efforts 
have been made to remove it from the land, the earth — 
efforts great as human intellect can devise, or patient la- 
bor can achieve. These, I am aware, have not been 



318 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

fruitless; they have staid, in some measure, the march 
of the destroyer; but, alas! I fear that statistics would 
show that he is far from being extinct. We have seen 
the Washingtonians arise; we have seen Dr. Chambers 
advance with his substitute, and retire after working ap- 
parent wonders; we have seen the Sons of Temperance 
organize, and labor with a zeal worthy their cause, and de- 
serving better fruit than the barren reward they have 
reaped; we have seen the Templars come forth in earnest 
battle. While we bid all such organizations Godspeed, 
we would have them remember that within, not without, 
are " murders, drunkenness, fornication, adulteries;" in 
fine, all vices; that to reform the life thoroughly and per- 
manently, you must reach the heart. Line Lake Erie 
with willing laborers, and they might perchance reduce 
its waters with buckets ; but, alas ! their labors would 
amount to little, so long as the streams that empty into it 
were undried. Would you seal the fountains of intem- 
perance, take the Bible; and with prayer, apply' it to the 
heart. Show me the drunkard who has been permanently 
reformed without feeling its power, and you show me a 
rare bird. Perchance such a one may be found as often 
as a white raven ; but when you find him, you will find 
one, perhaps, little better than before; he has but shifted 
his burden from one shoulder to another; developed his 
depravity in a new form. The Bible, brothers, is his only 
salvation. What we say of intemperance, we may say of 
any other form of immorality. 

Another evil is dishonesty; either in the form of 
stealing, robbery, or fraud. The latter is the more com- 
mon form in which it exhibits itself; and this may be 
seen every day, not only on the stock-exchange, and at 
the real-estate auction, but in the ordinary transactions 
of domestic commerce. The power of law, the wisdom 
of magistracy, the vigilance of police, are incapable of 



THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 319 

coping with the ingenuity of human cupidity. But there 
is one power which can do this work. Lay the ten com- 
mandments on the heart with the authority of an infinite 
God, and man will not trespass on the rights of his 
neighbors. Teach him to love his neighbor as himself, 
and he can not harm that neighbor; bid him regard his 
fellow-men as the children of his heavenly Father, and he 
will not injure them; engage him in an endeavor to bring 
them to the cross of Jesus, and the home of heaven, and 
he can not covet their goods; bring his mind into com- 
munion with God, and fill his heart with the hope of 
heaven ; and he can not be greedy of perishable riches. 
Nay, rather, when he looks on the things of others, it 
will be with a desire to increase them. 

Oppression is another cause of misery. The tyrant 
abuses his power, and deprives his subjects of their 
rights ; the powerful crush the feeble ; the rich prey upon 
the poor; and the strong nation robs, and then crushes 
the weak. How few enjoy a full measure of rational lib- 
erty; how many groan under the lash of the slave-owner, 
being treated as beasts of burden! And what is the 
remedy? Reason, philosophy, politics, long since did 
their utmost. Let in the light of the Bible. Where- 
ever this is felt, oppression, sooner or later, ceases. The 
whole spirit of the Gospel is at war with every form of 
oppression; it breathes equality, liberty, justice; it pro- 
claims deliverance to the captive, and the opening of 
prison doors to them that are bound; it brings on earth 
peace, good will to man. Its cardinal principle in ethics 
is, " Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto 
you, do ye even so to them." How can a man, with this 
moral balance in his hand, weigh slavery, and not find it 
wanting? The Gospel ordains the marriage relation, and 
sanctifies the domestic circle. It binds upon every hu- 
man being an obligation to diffuse its own blessed 



320 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

message. There is not a command in the decalogue, nor 
a precept of the Savior, nor an attribute in the Almighty, 
nor an impulse of regenerated humanity, that is not ar- 
rayed against slavery; not a commandment in the second 
table of the law, which, if fully obeyed, would not bring 
it to an end. True, it has existed in the presence of the 
Bible, and so has every other form of depravity; it has 
existed among professed Christians — so, too, has theft; it 
has found advocates in the Gospel ministry, and so has 
licentiousness. There are slaveholders even in the sa- 
cred vocation. The Bible must be received and believed, 
to produce its results. In the dark ages little was known 
of it. It was bolted up in dungeons. It must be prac- 
ticed as well as professed, before its legitimate results can be 
expected. Nor may any man judge of its fruits, when it 
is proclaimed by ministers who neither enjoy its spirit nor 
obey its dictates. It has, however, done much to unman 
slavery; it has made the slave traffic piracy, in every 
maritime code in Christendom; it has abolished slavery 
in nearly all the kingdoms of Europe, and throughout a 
large portion of this continent; it has very much amel- 
iorated the evil where it still exists, and has provoked, 
throughout the world, a loud, a firm, an authoritative de- 
mand for universal emancipation ; a demand which can 
no more be resisted than the cataract of Niagara. The 
slave power bears all the marks of age and inanity; its 
perpetual peevishness makes the grasshopper a burden; 
its watchful jealousy indicates its rising fears. It sac- 
rifices dearest friendships, to escape unwelcome truth; 
advocates the most hellish doctrines, that it may assuage 
the agonies of a guilty conscience, and rends the body of 
Christ, that it may drink the emblem of his blood with- 
out relaxing the chains it has riveted upon his children. 
All this proves that its day of dissolution is at hand ; its 
silver cord is loosed, and its golden bowl broken. Many 



THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 321 

complain of the Bible, because it does not at once de- 
nounce damnation against the master, and put a sword in 
the hands of the slave. But they have not considered, 
that in so doing it would erect barriers against its own 
progress round the earth; violate its own blessed spirit, 
which seeks to save, not to destroy; and attempt to re- 
move by local and temporary means, a constitutional dis- 
ease of the body-politic. Let it go and spread sweetly, 
gently, silently, its harmonizing, humanizing, liberalizing, 
sanctifying spirit, through and through the whole system 
of society, readjusting all its elements in the order of 
nature and righteousness. And surely it will do this if 
received. Whether it take the slaveholder backward to 
the garden of Eden, and show him how God made of one 
blood all men to dwell on the face of the earth; or, lead- 
ing him forward to the millennial age, display the beauti- 
ful vision of the Jion and the lamb, the sword and the 
plowshare, the African stretching out his hand to God, 
and islands of the sea new-born; or take him to Bethle- 
hem, to hear the songs of the angels ; or to Galilee, to 
hear the beatitudes of the Man of sorrows; or to Cal- 
vary, to see the Savior of sinners die; or to Olivet, to 
hear the Prince of life give his last charge to his disci- 
ples to "go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to 
every creature;" or onward to the great assize, to hear, 
from the lips of the final Judge, the last dread sentence, 
" Inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of these;" or 
upward to the chapels where the angels worship, and 
the saints perfected sing — it can look him in the eye and 
say, "Now, making all allowances for your education, 
circumstances, associations, etc., you know slavery is 
wrong." 

The Bible is as much opposed to war as it is to slavery. 
It is the voice of peace and forgiveness; it teaches sub- 
mission, even to wrong, rather than resentment; it utters 



822 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

benedictions on the peace-maker, and maledictions on 
the peace-breaker; its spirit, its millennium, and its 
heaven is peace; its Sabbath, its ministers, and its mis- 
sion, require peace. 

Another evil is ignorance. Man is naturally more 
averse to intellectual than to physical labor. To engage 
him in the cultivation of his mind, you must bring him 
under the influence of some powerful motive. And what 
motives like those of the Bible ? The Bible smites man 
as the angel did Peter, and leads him from the dungeon 
of earth to the light of heaven ; makes him feel that he 
is a child of immortality, a son of God, an heir of a 
kingdom, preparing for the society of angels, and destined 
to eternal progress. No man can think meanly of his 
soul, who sees it in this light. The Bible shows a man 
that his talents are not his own; that he is responsible to 
his Maker, not merely for their keeping, but their culti- 
vation, and that his everlasting destiny depends, in a 
great measure, upon their culture and improvement. 
One star differs from another star in glory, not by an ar- 
bitrary arrangement, but according to the deeds done in 
the body. I would not say that a man's capacity of use- 
fulness in this life is simply in proportion to his intellect- 
ual culture, but sufficiently so to engage the Christian in 
the anxious effort to improve his mind. The Bible not 
only furnishes the most powerful motives to intellectual 
improvement, but removes the hindefances which impede 
it in a soul aroused to its importance ; such as sensuality 
in youth, ambition in manhood, and avarice in old age. 
Inferior motives, I know, may sometimes bear up an indi- 
vidual gifted by nature, or favored by fortune, to the high- 
est eminence in scholarship; they have even made idol- 
atrous nations famous for learning; but where have they 
thus lifted up the mass to light ? With one exception — 
China — they have not even conceived the glorious idea of 



THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 323 

universal education.* So long as man is viewed as a cre- 
ture of the dust, a mere accidental mixture of elements 
in a great chance-laboratory, and destined, after display- 
ing a certain set of affinities, to evaporate, there can be 
no great reason why the general illumination of men 
should be a matter of public concernment. So long as 
man is viewed as a being uninstructed of God, and left 
to grope his way to the grave, I am at a loss to conceive 
why we should provide for general education. But the 
moment you bring me a Bible, I understand the reason 
for universal education. Here is light from heaven, and 
it is the duty of the state to see that every blind eye is 
opened to receive it. There is a message from God, and 
the Church comes bound with an obligation she can not 
neglect, but at the peril of her salvation, to give it, just 
as it is, to every creature. Hence, wherever she comes, 
she says, "Educate, educate I" But she need not; only 
let her hold up her Bible, and she awakens an appetite 
for knowledge. The poor man who has no estate, and ex- 
pects none; who looks forward to nothing but to labor, as 



When, in the dark ages, the Bible was confined to monkish cells, liter- 
ature was shut up there too. "When the Bible was brought into light, the 
public mind awoke, and when it was translated into living tongues, the 
work of popular education commenced. Soon after the Reformation, the 
Continental Churches adopted a rule which forced men to learn ; it re- 
quired that no man should be admitted to his first communion who could 
not read the Scriptures ; and it debarred whoever partook not of this com- 
munion, from marriage and civil employment. The same feeling also led 
to the common schools of this country, and is spreading them over Europe. 

The common school system of China is instructive ; it is, after an 
experiment of two thousand years, an utter failure. During all that pe- 
riod the government has pressed the nation's youth to school, but instead 
of developing, it has repressed their faculties; and for a good reason: it 
had no motive in the arrangement but to stereotype its political instruc- 
tions. Hence, though it taught the rising generation ancient literature, 
it excluded science, checked the spirit of inquiry, and sent the public 
mind down the narrow, dismal channel of ancient, but unaided thought. 



324 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

a beast of burden, till he dies, may consent to remain ig- 
norant of letters; but show him a will, giving him title to 
immense estates; show him that the will is conditional, and 
somewhat complicated, and that, by a little mismanage- 
ment or misinterpretation, he may lose all it confers, and at 
once you inspire him with an intense desire to learn. His 
willing soul says, " Who will show me how to read, that I 
may study and interpret for myself V Here is the will 
of Jesus to estates in heaven ! The inquirer, not satisfied 
with the interpretations and readings of scribes and priests, 
of lawyers and doctors, cries, "Let me have the book it- 
self! let me handle it, read it, understand it, for myself." 
Nor does it merely lead to general education ; it bears us 
up to the stores of ancient learning. Men whose opportu- 
nities permit, desire to trace up the Bible to its origin, to 
read it in the language in which it was first written, to get 
the precise meaning of its every word, and trace each of 
its verbal compounds to its roots. In accomplishing this 
work they pass through the enchanting grounds of an- 
cient literature and science, develop their understanding, 
improve their taste, and stimulate their love of knowledge 
to the highest pitch. Hence, the Bible, when it comes 
to moral spheres, like God, when he comes to chaos, 
says, "Let there be light!" Then light is over every 
physical, mental, and moral field. Is this unmeaning 
declamation? Look at facts. Wherever you find the 
Bible really received, do you not see awakened, inquiring 
mind? It is so on a large and on a small scale; whether 
it exerts its power on the individual or on the nation. 
Who poured floods of light over all the fields of philoso- 
phy? A Christian. Who made himself a path to the 
skies, and numbered and weighed the stars, ascertaining 
their laws, and predicting their positions for distant 
years, and to the accuracy of a moment? A Christian. 
Who sent the lightning on messages of commerce and 



THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 325 

errands of love? A Christian. "Who put a window in 
the breast, and looked through and through the inner 
man, mapping the sea of human emotion as its billows rise 
and fall, and eliminating the most ethereal of all fields — 
those of human thought? Who stands at the fountains 
of science the world over, and bids its waters flow? The 
Church. 

The Bible subdues the evil passions of men. These 
constitute the great fountain of the world's woe. The 
heart is an empire over which external things have but 
little power. A man may sit in torture upon the throne 
of the world; he may die in raptures at the stake. The 
causes of happiness or misery are "inter precordial 
Get the history of any human heart, and you will find 
that the great fountains of its sorrows are selfishness and 
resentment; the one flowing over it in the channels of 
pride, vanity, sensuality, avarice, ambition; the other 
in the streams of peevishness, envy, jealousy, revenge. 
"Write the history of the world, and you show that the 
former of these fountains desolates the globe with blood; 
the latter poisons its social intercourse with bitterness. 
What shall seal up these fountains? Not philosophy, not 
refinement, but the Bible. This alone can lift the soul 
out of the petty orbit of self, and sphere it around the 
throne of God; this alone can reconcile man to all his 
fellow-men. Bring him to the cross of Christ and he 
cries, 

" But drops of grief can ne'er repay 
The debt of love I owe ; 
Here, Lord, I give myself away ; 
'Tis all that I can do." 

His body and soul now being no longer his own, his self- 
ish interests are extinct. Bring a man to the throne of 
grace, and farewell to every form of resentment. The 
child of God, the heir of heaven, how can he be peevish? 



326 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Shall the pardoned culprit, on his road from the scaffold 
to the crown, complain of bad roads ? shall the suppliant 
for mercy be revengeful ? the patron of the world be en- 
vious? Praying that mercies may descend upon- every 
human heart — mercies such as Jesus died to purchase, 
and heaven opens to complete, how can he feel unhappy 
at the sight of the superiority of his fellows over him in 
reference to the goods of fortune ? Shall he who has pro- 
cured for another a crown, feel envious because he has a 
superior carpet? You may sneer at this as fancy, but I 
assure you it is fact. There are hearts, there are abodes, 
in which the golden age of fiction has been more than 
realized; and when the Bible shall have been universally 
received, the golden age of Scripture shall fill earth with 
bliss, with worship, and with song. 

I infer, first, that he is no true friend to humanity 
who will not distribute the Bible. The work commends 
itself to every patriot, to every philanthropist. He is 
without excuse who rejects the Bible. It works its own 
demonstration of its divinity. The great secret of hu- 
man ingenuity is complexity of causes, producing variety 
of effects; the great secret of the Creator is simplicity of 
causes, reconciled with multiplicity of effects. The same 
law that molds the dew-drop, whirls the planets in their 
courses; impulse and attraction govern the physical uni- 
verse. The same wonderful simplicity is seen in the Bi- 
ble. By three great facts it turns man into an angel, and 
will turn earth into a paradise; namely, that Jesus died, 
that he rose from the grave, that he sitteth at the 
right hand of the Father. 

Fill the world with books, and with them all — if they 
borrow not from the Bible — how can you convert a single 
sinner to God? Empty the world of books, and fill it 
with sinners, and with these three facts brought to bear 
upon their hearts, by divine grace, we may convert them 



THE GREAT CURE FOR EVILS. 327 

all. Go trace the wonderful results of this blessed book, 
and see in it the hand of God. 

May it go round the earth; turn all its people into the 
Church, and the whole Church into an orchestra; of 
which the ministry shall be the harp, the divine Spirit 
the chorister, the people the choir, and Jesus the burden 
of the harmonious hymn ! 



328 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



%\t fitoitu §l0rg. 



NO phrase more common in Christendom than, " Glory 
of God." No wonder; for it is understood to ex- 
press the great Center toward which all rightly-directed 
Christian action, and thought, and affection, should tend. 
"To glorify God, and enjoy him forever/' is the chief 
end of man. 

Glory signifies brightness, splendor, renown. Any 
thing which strongly strikes the mind, and awakens ad- 
miration and astonishment, is glorious; thus, the sun, 
the expanse of ocean, the arch of heaven, are glorious 
objects. Glory may be predicated of rational, as well as 
irrational objects. As the glory of an irrational being 
depends upon its sensible magnificence, so the glory of 
a rational being depends upon its rational or moral mag- 
nificence. This may be either original or derived. Orig- 
inal glory depends upon essential attributes; derived 
glory, upon acts or associations. The former may be re- 
solved into wisdom and goodness. The possession of 
either of these, in an eminent degree, must render a be- 
ing illustrious. The human mind is fitted to admire 
God, and, hence, must admire that which resembles him, 
and in proportion as it resembles him. This is essential 
glory. Glory may result from acts. If a man, though 
undistinguished by mental or moral excellence, perform 
an act, or make a discovery, fitted to increase the intelli- 
gence or the virtue of the world, his name is associated 
with such act or discovery, and derives from it a lasting 
renown. When a great mind appears, it is admired as 



THE DIVINE GLORY. 329 

far as it is known; neither envy, nor malice, nor jeal- 
ousy, nor hatred, can prevent it from receiving the admi- 
ration which is its due. That admiration flows from the 
common mind, and rolls onward to posterity, as naturally 
as water issues from its springs, and flows onward to the 
sea. Are not the distinguished among the living able to 
command not only the homage of the multitude, but the 
admiration and respect of their rivals ? are not the 
names of the mighty dead imperishable? Do not all na- 
tions point with pride to their brilliant eras — such as the 
age of Elizabeth, in England; of Louis XIV, in France; 
of Augustus, in Rome; and of Pericles, in Greece? Do 
not all ages, and sects, and parties unite in a tribute of 
praise to the Homers in poetry, the Ciceros in oratory, 
the Newtons in philosophy? How strange that men can 
render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and yet 
forget to render unto God the things that are God's! If 
we praise the mind of a frail, dependent, fellow-mortal, 
shall we not adore the great Original, in whom all possi- 
ble perfection centers; who is from everlasting to ever- 
lasting; and of whose wisdom and goodness all forms of 
human genius and excellence are reflections, as all colors 
are reflections of the light? Strange infatuation that, 
while it allows man to wonder at the human soul, blinds 
his eyes to the surpassing glory of Him who made it! 
Curious delusion, that can mark with delight every indi- 
cation of intelligence in the whole animal creation, and 
even hang with rapture over the indications of instinct 
in the meanest insect that crawls beneath our feet; and 
yet, never lift the eye of adoring wonder to Him at 
whose word the universe, with its countless ornaments 
and inhabitants, came forth ! 

Commanding abilities are frequently perverted. Many 
of the greatest minds of earth have been the most 
wicked; they have burned but to dazzle and delude; 

28 



330 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

their might has served but to depress their spirits; their 
exquisite sensibility, but to refine their misery; and their 
splendid exertions, but to deepen their damnation. They 
have refined their minds, only to sweeten the food of the 
undying worm; and brightened their powers, only to add 
splendor to the fires of hell. Melancholy spectacle ! A 
man, with giant powers and strong passions, ranging 
through all the works of God, forgetful of their Author; 
overlooking nothing within the notice of his eye, the reach 
of his telescope, or the compass of his microscope, but 
God, in whom he lives, and moves, and has his being; 
eagerly grasping at every other truth, yet resolutely shut- 
ting out that which is the comprehension of all other 
truth; plunged in the infinite fullness of God, yet float- 
ing in a diving-bell of depravity, from which God is shut 
out ! Satan, perhaps, has no more signal triumph, than 
when he plants his foot on such a soul; and the angel of 
mercy, in his errand to earth, can not meet with an object 
on which he can gaze with more pity and sorrow. Many 
such there are — 

" Weary, worn, and wretched things ; 
Scorched, and desolate, and blasted soulsj 
Gloomy wildernesses of dying thought !" 

Yet, such is the power of talents to charm, that, even 
though perverted, they command the admiration of man- 
kind. What, then, must be their glory when, walking in 
the light of God's countenance, and in obedience to his 
law, they are employed to purify, enlighten, and elevate 
mankind? How enviable the immortality of such men 
as Paul, Newton, Wesley, Luther! And shall mankind 
bestow on these their meed of praise, and withhold 
thanksgiving and adoration from Him who, with infinite 
wisdom, combines boundless and eternal beneficence; 
around whom the seraphim, with vailed faces, continually 



THE DIVINE GLORY. 331 

cry, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole 
earth is full of his glory ?" 

Wisdom or goodness makes one glorious. They are, 
however, generally excited when they are possessed; and 
among beings of our own order, we can have no evidence 
of their existence, except as they are revealed in action. 
But, could we be certified that a certain being of our race 
was of unequaled wisdom or goodness, we should accord 
him our homage, even though he should not exert his 
powers, or exert them in modes that we did not under- 
stand. Beyond all that we can see or hear, conceive or 
comprehend, are the demonstrations of the Divine attri- 
butes; and beyond these demonstrations lie infinite 
depths of unexerted power and love. 

The noblest human beings are imperfect; and the 
more wise and holy they become, the more they feel their 
imperfections. As we extend our diameter of light, we 
enlarge our horizon of darkness. There is One in whom 
no darkness dwells, from whom all light emanates — "the 
King eternal, immortal, invisible; who dwelleth in light 
inaccessible. " 

But there is derived glory. If the naturalist discover 
some animal hitherto unknown, or some habitude of a 
known animal which had hitherto escaped notice; if the 
philosopher point out some new law in the heavens or the 
earth; if the psychologist unfold new principles in the 
mind, he obtains unfading renown. Shall we give praise 
to Audubon for painting the songsters of the breeze, and 
not adore Him who created and decorated the originals, 
and taught them to warble their melodious notes? Shall 
we honor Newton for discovering the law of gravitation, 
and not glorify God for stretching that law over the uni- 
verse ? Shall we honor Locke for analyzing the human 
mind; and shall we not honor Him who made that mind 
in the image of his own intelligence ? 



332 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Sometimes the mere application of known laws to new 
purposes will give glory. Thus, the application of steam 
as a motive power, has given imperishable honor to "Watt. 
As we see the steamship freighted with an army, plung- 
ing through the deep, against the storm, like an avenging 
god, at the rate of forty miles an hour, true as the needle 
to its path, it is natural that we should give glory to Ful- 
ton. Think now of this great globe, with its deserts, its 
oceans; its mountains, five miles high; its radius of four 
thousand miles; its surface of one hundred and ninety- 
eight millions of miles; and remember that it turns on 
its axis with so great precision, that the interval it occu- 
pies for this purpose has not varied three times the thou- 
sandth part of a second since astronomical observations 
began ; that it wheels through space at the rate of thou- 
sands of miles an hour, with an accuracy that brings it to 
all its appointed stations at the precise moment, and with 
a steadiness so great that not an insect's wing is broken 
by the jar! Consider that the earth is but a speck, com- 
pared with the planetary system ; that the planetary sys- 
tem is an atom, compared with the system of fixed stars, 
each the center of a system ; and remember that all the 
worlds in this great planetarium of God's are whirling, 
without collision, with a velocity inconceivable, and with 
a regularity so wonderful, that we can predict their arriv- 
als and departures at their destined depots, for distant 
ages, and to the accuracy of a moment! Who counts the 
strokes; who regulates the steam; who feeds the fires; 
who supplies the boilers; who opens and shuts the 
valves; who oils the joints, and rings the bells of the in- 
visible locomotives that wheel the unnumbered worlds 
through space — locomotives that no age can wear out, no 
climate impair, no darkness slacken, no snows arrest, no 
revolutions derange ? Wonderful depravity, that can glo- 
rify Watt, and not glorify God ! 



THE DIVINE GLORY. 333 

When men make wise laws, we give them glory. The 
code of Justinian has done more for the glory of Rome, 
than the strains of her Virgil, the eloquence of her Cic- 
ero, or the triumphs of her Caesars. The code of Napo- 
leon has done more for the honor of France, than all the 
gory plains over which the imperial eagles have perched. 
Notwithstanding all that men have done, the best human 
laws are liable to numerous objections. 

They are not easily understood. This is evident from 
the fact that they constitute the study of a lifetime; 
that their practice requires a class of most acute, discrim- 
inating, and learned minds; and that the best intellects 
of this most acute and intelligent profession are required 
to expound and disentangle them. Say not that the Bible 
requires no less; for the study of the divine word is not 
to understand and eliminate the law, so much as to educe 
motives to persuade men to obey it. 

They are not easily published — a necessary result of 
their voluminousness and complexity. 

They are not of universal adaptation. The laws of one 
age are not applicable to another; the laws of one nation, 
one locality, one grade of civilization, do not equally suit 
another. 

They are not uniformly benevolent, or even just, in 
their working. Hence, in every government, the execu- 
tive is invested with a power to arrest their operation. 

Indeed, it is doubted whether it is possible to make a 
perfect system of law, such are the varying wants of so- 
ciety, the complicated relations of men, and the imper- 
fections of human language. 

Let us now turn to the law of G.od — a Thou shalt 
love," etc. Is it not simple? "Who can fail to under- 
stand it? What need of interpreters? What child that 
has ever been pressed to a mother's bosom, does not 
know what love is ? What wayfaring man, though a fool, 



334 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

does not know what this law requires ? You may go 
through all worlds, and all ages, measuring off, with this 
divine law, the obligations which spring from your rela- 
tions, as easily as you may measure, with a two-foot rule, 
the garments with which you clothe yourself. We need 
no argument to expound or apply it, though we need elo- 
quence to persuade the depraved heart to adopt it. 

It is easily published. It would require but a few 
days to proclaim it in all nations, if men were prepared 
to receive it. 

It is equally applicable to all countries, climates, and 
states of civilization; to all worlds; for it is that by 
which the obedient, rational universe is bound into one 
harmonious whole, and wheeled around the throne of 
God. 

Its tendency is uniformly benevolent. It tends to re- 
move all causes of social evil. Go round the world, and 
take an inventory of moral ills. What would you have ? 
Envy, jealousy, malice, rivalship! These imbitter the 
fountains of private and social peace. Let every man 
love his neighbor as himself, and all of them would dis- 
appear. What is it that causes all forms of human 
wrong and oppression? that desolates the globe with war? 
that puts the chain upon the captive and the slave, and 
the rod into the tyrant's hand? What but selfishness? 
Let a man love his neighbor as himself, and the chain 
will fall from the foot of the slave, and the rod from the 
hand of the oppressor; armies will disband, and navies 
sail home; all nations will become a choir of joyful sis* 
ters, and man every-where behold in his fellow-man a 
brother and a friend. You may see something of the 
tendency of this law, by comparing the Church with the 
world. Though the Church is very imperfect, still, 
moral excellence is, for the most part, with her. It has 
been so in all ages. Though obscured by clouds, she is 



THE DIVINE GLORY. 335 

still a sun ; and all the rays of moral light may be traced 
to her bosom. She has given an earnest of a better day, 
when "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the lion 
shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young 
lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall 
lead them. And the sucking child shall play on the 
hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand 
on the cocatrice's den " — "when truth shall spring out 
of the earth, and righteousness look down from heaven; 
joy shall be heard therein; thanksgiving, and the voice 
of melody/' 

This law not only removes causes of misery, but con- 
tains the element of positive happiness. Love is happi- 
ness, whatever may be the object that excites it. You, 
my brethren, may wonder that the pleasures of sense, the 
laurels of the warrior, the accumulations of the miser, or 
the acquisitions of mere human learning, should give 
joy to an immortal mind; but you must bear in mind 
that they who worship the lust of the flesh, the lust of 
the eye, and the pride of life, have not passed through 
the regeneration; and although you who have been per- 
mitted to see with anointed vision, to lay up eternal 
treasures, and claim a mansion in the invisible world, 
may not find happiness below, yet he who knows no 
higher objects than the sensible and the temporal may. 

The happiness which we derive from the objects that 
we love, is in proportion to their magnitude and purity. 
If men are rendered happy by loving wealth, or fame, or 
pleasure, what must be the joy of him who, turning his 
eyes away from all created good, fixes his heart upon 
God? What fullness in his joy! Let property fail, let 
friends die, let the world dissolve, let the universe per- 
ish, and leave not even a distant cloud behind; he has 
enough, an infinite fullness left — God ! All finite objects 
are inadequate to an immortal soul ; for a fountain, 



336 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

however copious, must, sooner or later, be drained by a 
soul that draws forever; but when unnumbered ages of 
rapture shall have passed, the soul that loves God will 
only be just waking up to the fullness and freshness of 
immortal life. 

This law secures not merely enjoyment, but a progress- 
ive elevation of character. Whatever a man loves, has 
a transforming power over him. If a man fall in love 
with that which is debased, he soon becomes low and 
brutal. Witness the drunkard ! If he fall in love with 
that which is cold, narrow, hard; if he become, for ex- 
ample, a miser, his soul grows colder and colder, harder 
and harder, narrower and narrower, till it gets into the 
coldest possible state, and the narrowest possible compass 
of a man. If he fall in love with that which is en- 
nobling and elevating — with science or literature, for in- 
stance — he becomes ennobled and exalted. As his spirit 
wings its way through the fields by which it has been en- 
chanted, it will expand, and the objects on which it 
gazes will enstamp their own images upon it, in return for 
its affection. And what does this law require us to love ? 
God. As the Christian gazes upon his throne, how ele- 
vated does he become ! A strong, and not insensible at- 
traction lifts his enraptured soul from the earth, and 
draws him higher and higher, nearer and nearer to the 
object of his wondering attention. He looks at the im- 
age of God, and as he rises is transformed. Beholding, 
he is changed into the same image, from glory into glory, 
from glory into glory, world without end! 

What is the glory due to God for his law? 

In what sense can we promote the divine glory? 
God's essential glory, depending upon his attributes, is 
infinite. Nevertheless, there is a sense in which we can 
promote it; for illustration — we can not add anything 
to the character of General Washington; but we can add 



THE DIVINE GLORY. 837 

to its glory by extending the knowledge of it. Go into 
the valleys of the Niger or the Gambia, the Indus or the 
Hoang Ho, and, collecting its rude and idolatrous inhab- 
itants, turn them from dumb idols to the living and true 
God, and you will promote his glory. Nor need we go to 
distant islands or continents to extend the knowledge of 
the Creator. It is a melancholy truth that there is, even 
under the shadow of our Christian temples, masses of 
paganized mind — mind that has never beheld the glory 
of God in the heavens or the earth, in the word of his 
grace or the voice of his providence. 

The derived glory of God may be promoted in two 
modes — by declaring it, and by co-operating with God 
in producing it. The economy of grace connects human 
instrumentality with human salvation. God only can 
convert a soul; but for the grace which converts he will 
be inquired of by his people. Could we be the means of 
leading God to create another world, we should do less for 
his glory than if we should induce him to send convert- 
ing power into a human soul. Weighed with an immor- 
tal spirit, the moon and stars are but the dust of the bal- 
ance. He was a philosopher as well as a poet, who 
said, 

" Behold this midnight wonder ! 
Worlds on worlds ! Redouble this amaze — 
Ten thousand add; then, twice ten thousand more; 
Then weigh the whole — one soul outweighs them all ; 
Mocks at the magnificence of an intelligent creation, 
And calls it poor !" 

Behold, Christians, the dignity of your calling ! An- 
gelic hosts desire to look into the mysteries which you 
explain, but they are not able; archangels niight leave 
the courts of glory to take your places in the earth, but 
to them it is not given ; they are but ministering spirits, 
sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation; or indices 

29 



338 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

to the Peters, whose function it is to tell the words 
whereby men may be saved. 

In our high calling we may employ both body and 
spirit. When a man consecrates his powers to God, he 
promotes God's glory, even in his humblest acts; whether 
he eats or drinks, lives or dies, goes abroad or returns 
home, he does it all to God; when he provides for his 
children, and the children of the poor, he is providing 
for wants for which God has made no other provision 
than his labors; and his acts of kindness and charity 
promote God's glory as much as when, by proxy, he pro- 
claims Christ in distant lands. 

We may glorify God in spirit — by discourse. "Sweet 
speech" is given us; and never is it sweeter than when 
it is used to convey just thoughts of God, and the feel- 
ings which they inspire. Opportunities for religious con- 
verse are frequently occurring; and, however obscure, 
however feeble, however unlearned the Christian may be, 
he can communicate his ideas of the Almighty, and the 
raptures which they awaken within his breast. While he 
muses, the fire burns; and when the fire burns, the 
tongue must glow. What the beasts teach thee, and 
what the fowls of the air tell thee, and what the fishes of 
the sea speak unto thee, and what the earth proclaims to 
thee, and the heavens declare unto thee, and each re- 
volving day and returning night whisper in thine ear of 
the Divine glory, canst thou not tell to those around thee ? 
And what the fathers have told thee as thou didst search 
them, shalt thou not utter out of thy heart? "Keep 
thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which 
thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart 
all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and 
thy sons' sons; specially the day thou stoodest before the 
Lord thy God in Horeb." Deut, iv. "And thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God/' etc. "And these words which 



THE DIVINE GLORY. 339 

I command thee this day, shalt be in thine heart; and 
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and 
thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, 
and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest 
down, and when thou risest up." Deut. vi. Nor should 
we confine our teachings to our households. " Declare 
his glory among the heathen, his marvelous works among 
all nations. Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the peo- 
ple, give unto the Lord glory and strength, give unto the 
Lord the glory due unto his name." Nor this alone; let 
us bid our children tell it to the generations following; 
that we may show forth God's praise to all coming ages; 
yea, let us do it ourselves ! 

And marvelous are our facilities for so doing; for we 
have the press, by which we may reach the minds of 
those with whom it is impossible to hold personal inter- 
course. It is the gift of tongues — cloven tongues, living 
tongues, fire-tongues — by which a man, in one language, 
may ultimately speak in all languages; it is the world's 
whispering gallery, by which a voice in the closet, at the 
silent hour of night, may travel round to the opposite 
side of the globe, and become audible there; it is a pil- 
lar more enduring than the monuments of Egypt. Job 
said, "0, that my words were written; 0, that they 
were printed in a book!" but this does not satisfy him: 
"0, that they were cut into the lead with an iron stilet!" 
but the impression might wear away: "0, that they were 
driven into the rock !" Had Job lived to this time, he 
would have reversed the series of sentences. Had his 
words been merely cut into the lead .or the rock, we 
might never have seen them; but because they were 
printed, they have come down to our times, and will go 
onward forever. 

While infidels, and politicians, and merchants, are 
using the press, shall not Christians, also? Shall the 



340 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

types be types of evil, and not of good ? 0, what would 
Paul have done had he possessed the steam press ? 

Suppose, however, that we can neither speak nor write, 
even then we can pray! Though the keepers of the 
house tremble, and the strong men bow themselves, and 
those that look out at the windows be darkened, yet may 
the infirm and speechless saint glorify God ! He can 
pray, and his prayers may be more effectual than ever, as 
he draws near to the eternal world; so that, like Samson, 
he may slay more in his death than in his life. The ef- 
fectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much; 
ten righteous men would have saved Sodom; ten right- 
eous men may now be saving New York ! Prayer has 
stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence 
of fire. As the lightning-rod conveys the electric stream 
harmless to the earth, so prayer may empty the charged 
cloud of divine vengeance, and conduct the wrath of God 
harmless to the bosom of the Redeemer. It is the the- 
ory of Mr. Espy, that in the season of drouth, nothing 
more is necessary to refresh the earth with rain, than to 
kindle fires upon the mountain-tops. Whether this be so 
or not, we know that spiritual refreshment — rains of 
righteousness, are produced by the fires of Christian 
prayer that are kept burning upon the mountains of Zion. 

But why glorify God ? He is our Creator. What a 
being creates he has a right to control. When you take 
a piece of matter, and, by incorporating your industry 
with it, greatly increase its value, men, overlooking the 
fact that the matter was created to your hand, say it is 
yours. Suppose, for example, you take a piece of iron 
worth a cent, and make it into watch springs worth six 
hundred dollars; who does not acknowledge that you have 
a perfect right to the increased value ? God made you, 
not out of iron, but out of nothing; not into springs of 
watches, but immortal springs of thought, and feeling, 



THE DIVINE GLORY. 341 

and action. An ancient father has an illustration like 
this: Suppose a statuary go to the quarry and hew a 
block of marble into a human shape, and clothe it with 
skin, and give it organs of sense, and organs of motion, 
and organs of life; and then breathe into it the breath 
of life, and give it a rational, moral, and immortal spirit; 
what would be the first act of that being? Would it not 
be to prostrate itself at the feet of its author in adora- 
tion and thankfulness? God hath made you, and placed 
you on an inclined plane leading to his throne. 

Our preservation lays us under additional obligations. 
As it requires as much power to keep a weight suspended 
as it does to raise it, so it requires as much energy to 
keep a being in life, as to call it into life; if, therefore, 
we were self-created, provided we were dependent on God 
for the perpetuation of our lives, we should be under ob- 
ligation to unintermitting obedience. As we owe both 
creation and preservation to God, we must multiply the 
obligation we are under from our creation, into the num- 
ber of moments during which we have existed, in order 
to reach any thing like our aggregate obligations. 

God has made an abundant provision for our wants; for 
it is his table that feeds us, his wardrobe that clothes us, 
his lamp that lights our pathway, and his bosom upon 
which we repose. We are accustomed to overlook this, 
and to ascribe our blessings to our own agency; but of 
what avail were all our toil and care, if God did not fill 
the stream of bounty from which we draw supplies? The 
city on the banks of the stream raises her reservoir, and 
sinks her pipes, and inserts her hydrants at every door, 
and works her engine to raise the water into the basin, 
that it may flow through all the streets, and refresh every 
living thing within them; but does she ever dream that 
her pipes and engines quench the thirst of her inhab- 
itants? Well does she know that if the rains of heaven 



342 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

did not fall, and the springs of the mountains did not 
gush with living waters, her apparatus were of no value. 

God has made abundant supplies for our comfort and 
enjoyment. He might have caused all our motions to be 
painful, he has made them all easy, if not pleasurable; 
he might have made the senses sources of disgust, he 
has made them avenues of enjoyment; he might have 
made all our nerves means of punishment, he has made 
them means of satisfaction and delight; with millions of 
nervous fibers in the body, each capable of making a hell 
within us, we pass days, and nights, and months, and 
years, not only without agony, but with sensations of 
comfort. When we do suffer pain, it is evidently.a per- 
version of the Creator's design, and may be traced, gen- 
erally, to our own fault, or overruled for our good. God 
might have made all our social ties afflictions, he has 
made them all delightful. How unspeakable the joys of 
the relation between parent and child, husband and wife, 
brother and sister, friend and friend ! 

Thus far we can go side by side with the infidel. If 
I address one, I should like to go with him some 
morning to one of these green eminences, and as the sun 
unbars the gates of the east, and floods the world with 
his golden beams, I know we could exclaim, tongue to 
tongue, " Glorious orb! Grand universe!" I should 
like to ask him what sort of a world we should have if 
there were no light? and how men would feel if, hereto- 
fore never having known any thing above them but a cope 
of darkness, unpierced even by a star, the sun should, all 
at once, burst upon the world? 0, how all its inhab- 
itants would fall down in wonder and thankfulness ! 
How they could exclaim, 

" Hail ! holy light; offspring of heaven first-born; 
Or of the eternal, co-eternal beam." 

Well, having had it day by day, what should be our 



THE DIVINE GLORY. 343 

gratitude? We could agree that he who made us, and 
gave us eyesight, and hearing, and reason, and speech, 
and heart, and hope, who, "not content with every food 
of life to nourish man, maketh all nature beauty to the 
eye, and music to the ear," is worthy to be loved, worthy 
to be glorified. I should like, also, to go forth at even- 
ing with the skeptic, arm in arm up some goodly mount- 
ain, in the mellow light of sunset, whether in spring, or 
summer, or autumn, and as the landscape stretches out 
before us, I should like to ask, "Is not this a beautiful 
world? and is not its Author to be praised ?" I should 
like to lead my friend, as we return, through the grave- 
yard, and as we move aside the tall grass from the head- 
stones, and read the names of some of his early play- 
mates, and the companions of his riper years — James, 
and Joseph, and Mary — I would ask why he is not here? 
and as he replies, "The mercy of God/' I would ask 
again, "Is he not worthy to be glorified?" If he be a 
father, I would look at some of those little graves, and, as 
I read the names of Martha, and Jane, and Maria — 0, 
what a world full of meaning in these names for a moth- 
er's heart! — I would ask him why his children are not 
here? and as he says, "The goodness of God," I would 
put my arm around his neck and say, "Is he not worthy 
to be glorified?" As we descend the slope and enter his 
home, I should like to catch up one of his children in 
my arms, and ask him what he or its mother would take 
for it? Who knows not the love of a parent? Well, 
God has not called on you to bury yours. Were it in 
danger, what would you not give for its ransom? How 
inestimable then your obligation to Him who bestowed 
it ! But here in the valley I leave the infidel, for I have 
another mountain to climb — it is the mountain of grace ! 
and it is arched by a rainbow, written all over on both 
limbs with precious promises. As we rise, let us read : 



344 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 






"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." When we 
walk in solitude or sorrow, or in the valley of the shadow 
of death, what will that be worth? "All things shall 
work together for good to them that love God." Then 
we may stand and look onward to eternity, and boldly 
challenge the moments as they come, for every one must 
bear for us a blessing on its wings. But these promises, 
you say, do not save us from sorrow, and afflictions, and 
bereavement. True, but let us read again : "These light 
afflictions, which are but for a season, shall work out for 
us" — 0, most perfect and glorious climax — "a far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look 
not at the things that are seen and temporal." All we 
can lose or suffer, is more than covered by this broad pol- 
icy of heavenly insurance. 

But mark the center of that arch! Behold a cross! 
Lo a victim ! as a lamb slain ! Hear his last prayer ! 
mark his dying agony ! 

" Bound to the accursed tree. 
Faint and trembling, who is he? 
By the eyes so pale and dim, 
Streaming blood and writhing limb; 
By the flesh with scourges torn ; 
By the crown of twisted thorn; 
By the side so deeply pierced ; 
By the baffled, burning thirst ; 
By the drooping, death-dew'd brow ; 
Son of man, 'tis thou ! 'tis thou ! 

Bound to the accursed tree, 

Dread and awful, who is he? 

By the sun at noonday pale, 

Shivering rocks and rending vale ; 

By earth, that trembles at his doom ; 

By yonder saints that leave their tomb; 

By Eden promised, ere he died, 

To the felon at his side ; 

Lord, our suppliant knees we bow — 

Son of God, 'tis thou ! 'tis thou I" 



PREACHING CHRIST. 345 



fmtlung Christ. 

THE Gospel reveals to us the plan of God for redeem- 
ing men. This plan was not discoverable by finite 
reason. Though intimated in the ceremonial law, and 
foreshadowed in the prophecies, it was not distinctly un- 
derstood till the publication of the Gospel. Even the 
prophets themselves seemed not to comprehend the pur- 
port of their predictions of the Messiah, although they 
studied them with intense desire to sound their depths. 
It is intimated that the angels themselves, though they 
would fain understand the cross, are not able — for this 
is the crowning mystery of the Gospel ; as explained in 
the apostle's letter to the Colossians, in which he uses 
this language : " Whereof [that is, the Church] I am made 
a minister, according to the dispensation of God which 
is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God : even 
the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from 
generations, but now is made manifest to his saints; to 
whom God would make known what is the riches of the 
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ 
in you, the hope of glory. " Hence, the preaching of 
Christ is the sum and substance of the message of the 
minister of the Gospel. Paul, in his letter to the Ko- 
mans, says, "I determined to know [that is, to make 
known] nothing among you but Jesus Christ, and him 
crucified. M Hence, ministers of the Gospel are called 
ministers of Christ; the Church to which they minister 
is called the Church of Christ ; and the message which 



346 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

they deliver, the truth of Christ. Seeing, therefore, that 
the sum of pulpit labors is preaching Christ, it is import- 
ant to determine precisely what this signifies. It means: 
Preaching the doctrine of Christ. If I ask whether 
you teach Euclid, you would understand my inquiry to be 
whether you teach his geometry. So, to teach Aristotle, 
or Bacon, or Locke, is to teach the philosophy which 
they respectively published to the world. There is a 
central idea in each of these philosophies, around which 
the others revolve, and on which they may, in a certain 
sense, be said to depend; so that, by a common figure of 
speech, we may put forth that central idea as the repre- 
sentative of the system to which it belongs. Thus, we 
may describe the philosophy of Aristotle by the syllo- 
gism ; that of Bacon, by induction; and that of Locke, 
by the repudiation of innate ideas. So the cross, or the 
offering of Christ as a propitiation for the sin of the 
world, stands for the teaching — the religion — of the 
Savior as the great center and sun of his system of re- 
vealed truth. If so, there is a very common error into 
which many good people, and some pious ministers have 
naturally and innocently fallen; namely, that a preacher 
departs from the great purpose which he should have in 
view when he introduces into his discourse any thing but 
the doctrine of atonement by Christ; that his theme 
should be the same, yesterday, to-day, and forever; that 
though he may vary his illustrations and arguments, he 
must not vary his topic. Some go so far as to suppose 
that if he do not say enough in each discourse to explain 
the whole scheme of salvation so that a sinner should be 
able to go from earth to heaven by its guidance, although 
he never may have heard a sermon before, and never may 
again, that he either does not understand his calling, or 
does not fulfill it. Now, while I may profoundly respect 
the persons who take this view, and the feeling upon 



PREACHING CHRIST. 347 

which their prejudice is based, I would enter my humble 
and gentle caveat against it. It is evident upon the 
slightest reflection, that if it were unanimously adopted, . 
it would make the pulpit very monotonous. The music 
of salvation would be unlike that of nature; the sky of 
revelation, unlike the arch of heaven, would have neither 
moon nor stars; the world of religious truth would have 
no caves nor mountains, but present only one unbroken 
plain. It is clear that they who insist upon it do not 
adopt it; like other men, they introduce other topics, 
such as may be suggested by the errors, or the sins, or 
the wants of the people, by the course of events, the 
change of the seasons, or the signs of the times. Their 
practice is right, though their theory is wrong. Under 
the old dispensation men preached Moses. St. James 
says, Acts xv, 21, " Moses of old time hath in every city 
them that preach him, being read in the synagogue every 
Sabbath day." Well, what did the preaching of Moses 
consist in? Simply recounting his life, dwelling upon 
his character, depicting his offices. What did the reading 
of Moses consist in? Simply the Ten Commandments? 
No ! the whole Old Testament, from the beginning of 
Genesis to the close of Malachi — after the days of Mal- 
achi — was read in order in the synagogue. In its service 
there were three things read: the shema, the law, and 
the prophets. The shema consisted of three select por- 
tions of Scriptures; the law consisted of the five books 
of Moses. " These were divided into fifty-four sections, 
because in their intercalated years — when a month was 
added to the year— there were fifty- four Sabbaths, and so a 
section being read every Sabbath day, completed the whole 
space in a year; but when the year was not thus intercal- 
ated, those who had the direction of the synagogue wor- 
ship reduced the sections to the number of Sabbaths, by 
joining two short ones several times into one, because 



348 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

they held themselves obliged to have the whole, from the 
beginning of Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy, read 
over in this manner every year. In the persecution of 
Antiochus Epiphanes, when the reading of the law was 
prohibited, in the room of it the Jews substituted fifty- 
four sections of the prophets, which were ever after con- 
tinued" — two lessons, one out of the law the other out 
of the prophets, being used after the restoration of the 
law by the Maccabees. The law and the prophets having 
been read, they were expounded and applied; and after- 
ward it was customary to call for general exhortations. 
Thus was Moses preached. It must be evident that in 
many of these lessons his name, his character, his life, 
were not glanced at. But, to be more specific, 

To preach Christ is to preach his doctrines in opposition 
to all other religion. We may do this from Sinai as well 
as from Galilee; from the ark on the billows of the Flood, 
as well as from the fisherman's boat on the waves of the 
Sea of Tiberias; from the life of Abraham, as well as 
the life of Peter; from the lips of Isaiah, as well as 
those of Paul; from the reeking altar of the temple, as 
well as the crimsoned cross of Calvary. So, on the other 
hand, a man may take a text from the prophets or evan- 
gelists, and discourse like a pagan, or Mohammedan, or 
infidel, because he does not make it point to Christ. He 
is the center of his religion ; all things in the Bible flow 
from him, and are traceable to him as rays of light to the 
sun. He is the Alpha and Omega of Scripture; all 
things therein are in him. In discoursing from Scrip- 
ture it is not necessary to name Christ that you may 
preach him. It is not necessary to name the letters of 
the Greek alphabet in order to show their connection 
with alpha and omega; only use those letters as Greek 
letters, give them the place and power of Greek letters 
in your combinations, and you show that connection. 



PREACHING CHRIST. 349 

To preach Christ is to preach his doctrines in opposi- 
tion to all philosophy. There is much philosophy in 
the Scripture — natural philosophy, mental and moral 
too. A philosopher might take a text from the sermon 
on the mount, and deliver a philosophical lecture; in- 
deed, he might perhaps proclaim from it a series of such 
lectures; he might perhaps obtain from that discourse a 
perfect system of mental and moral philosophy, and illus- 
trate it without preaching Christ, while deriving from him 
the foundation of that system and naming him at every 
step. The philosophy of Christ was incidental, not es- 
sential to his mission. You might as well describe a 
king by his robes, as to preach Christ simply by the beau- 
tiful philosophy in which his religion was arrayed. 

To preach Christ is to preach his doctrines as he 
taught them. The being of God is a doctrine common 
to all religions; the fall of man has been believed in all 
ages, by some schools, and has been generally received 
by the masses of mankind; the duty of repentance, the 
advantages of faith, the future life, the necessity of a 
renewed soul, the rewards and punishments beyond the 
grave, are doctrines traceable through the mythology and 
religious teaching, of ancient and modern pagan nations, 
and doctrines which are generally received and taught by 
those among us who reject Christ. Such doctrines may, 
therefore, be preached without preaching Christ. They 
must be proclaimed in the clearness and fullness which 
he gave them, and in their relation to him as the Savior 
of the world. Christ crucified for the sins of the world, 
is the center of those doctrines, which gives to each of 
them its proper place, and harmonizes them all together. 
Though these doctrines may be preached without preach- 
ing Christ, Christ can not be preached without preaching 
them. Without the doctrine of God — the righteous, just, 
holy Ruler of the universe — there were no necessity for 



350 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 



a propitiation for sin. If men were not depraved by na- 
ture, they would need no regeneration by the Spirit. If 
there were no future life, we might eat and drink with- 
out concern, for to-morrow we die; to an atheist the 
cross might be held up forever without producing the 
least impression. Let that stupid man once be brought 
to see God in the Scriptural light, and he becomes to him 
a consuming fire from whom he would flee, and as a 
refuge from whose all-seeing eye and righteous wrath he 
would scream in agony for a Mediator. To him who 
thinks he is righteous, the scenes of Calvary are unmean- 
ing; let his blindness be taken away; let the chambers 
of his heart be exposed to his eye; let the light of obli- 
gation shine upon his life; let his relations to the uni- 
verse be seen, and he will find nothing but the Crucified 
capable of affording him relief. He who preaches the 
doctrine of total depravity to such a sinner is most effect- 
ually preaching Christ. The law is the schoolmaster to 
bring us to Christ. As without the schoolmaster we 
should never read, so without the law we should never 
exercise evangelical faith. 

Christ, in short, can not be preached without all the 
doctrines of his word; but these must be so preached as 
to exhibit him crucified as the central idea. They should 
also be presented in their due proportion. Nothing is 
plainer than that a man may preach the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth, and yet make a false 
impression, yet fail to disclose the mysteries of the Gos- 
pel, because he does not give to each its proper place and 
proportion. Though you have all the parts of a watch, 
if some be too large or too small, or if one be put in the 
wrong place, it will not keep time. The want of this 
beautiful proportion of Christian doctrine has given rise 
to most of the troubles of the Church. Even in the days 
of the apostles, some of the expressions of St. Paul, 






PREACHING CHRIST. 351 

probably those which relate to justification by faith, were, 
according to St. Peter, wrested by the unlearned and un- 
stable to their own destruction. Luther came very near 
following their example when, at a certain period of his 
life, he was led to undervalue, and, indeed, altogether re- 
ject the Epistle of St. James. On the other hand, the 
Roman Catholic Church has generally evinced too strong 
an inclination to postpone the great truth of justification 
by faith to that other of judgment according to works. 
These opposite bearings are still seen respectively in the 
Calvinistic and Arminian Churches. They are the con- 
sequences of the imperfection of our nature. Perhaps 
no Church presents the circle of Christian truth in all its 
beauty and symmetry; if so, no one perfectly presents 
Christ Jesus. Let us, therefore, judge each other char- 
itably. It is a pleasing reflection, that amidst the dis- 
cord of contending sects the impartial hearer perceives 
the harmony of Christian truth; that the disproportion- 
ate exhibition of Gospel doctrines by rival teachers may 
unfold the perfect proportion of the Gospel itself to 
every intelligent and comprehensive mind. 

It is another beautiful reflection that God " tempers 
the wind to the shorn lamb;" that as he enables us to 
sustain our life in this world with an imperfect philos- 
ophy, so he enables us to find our way to another with an 
imperfect theology. This consideration, however, should 
not prevent us from striving to perfect both our philos- 
ophy and our religion. How little do they make progress 
in Gospel truth, who think that all theology is compre- 
hended in one statement — that of the atonement ! We 
could not describe the universe by describing the sun, al- 
though he is the most magnificent object, the center of 
attraction, the fountain of illumination. Indeed, we 
could not fully know him if we knew nothing else, for we 
could not comprehend the ends which he accomplishes. 



352 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

As in nature God has a general plan, so in revelation ; 
as in nature this plan is uniform, so in the Gospel. As 
the lawyer and the physician guide themselves by well- 
settled principles, the mathematician by axioms, and the 
general by maxims, so the minister must guide himself in 
his more obscure researches, by the clear light of great 
general Scripture principles. 

To preach Christ is to preach his truth upon his author- 
ity. Thomas Paine proclaimed some of the truths of 
the Gospel, such as, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." 
He doubtless believed them, and desired that all men 
should receive them ; he illustrated them, perhaps, in the 
same way that any Christian minister would; in the same 
way that he did himself when he was a Quaker; but yet 
he did not preach Christ; he did not present his precepts 
as of Divine authority. So the politician on the stump, 
or in the hall of legislation, may proclaim the great pre- 
cepts of temperance, peace, righteousness, and judgment 
to come, and yet may deny Christ in his heart and before 
his fellow-men. He may believe the doctrines of Christ 
to be divine too, jus£ as he believes the doctrine of grav- 
itation to be so, and would demonstrate them in the same 
way; and while he would be free to admit Christ to be 
an eminent philosopher, or reformer, or politician, would 
sneer at his claims to the Godhead, denounce his cross as 
foolishness, and his Church as a stumbling-block. The 
same truth, may be presented in the same way, at the 
same time, in the senate and the pulpit, by different men, 
who, while employing the same language, may respect- 
ively oppose and defend Jesus Christ; the one resting 
upon his own argument, the other upon the authority of 
his Savior; the one robbing him, the other crowning 
him ! It is not necessary that a minister should be con- 
stantly informing his audience that he preaches on 
Christ's authority; the very place where he stands, the 



PREACHING CHRIST. 353 

occasion on which he speaks, the position which he occu- 
pies in society, are enough to show on what he grounds 
himself in his public teaching. But it is necessary for 
one who stands unconnected with the Christian Church, 
even when he proclaims Christian truth, distinctly to 
avow that he does it as a Christian, for many whose 
minds have been irradiated, whose hearts have been re- 
strained, whose lives have been directed, and whose hon- 
ors have been shaped by the teachings of the blessed Je- 
sus, have turned their back upon him, or betrayed him 
with a kiss, or have been ashamed of his cross. 

To preach Christ is to apply his teachings to all the 
purposes to which they are intended to be applied. The 
Gospel is sufficient for the reformation of the world. 
There is no moral corruption which it can not purify, 
there is no sorrow which it can not heal, there is no moral 
darkness which it can not dissipate, there is no sinner 
which it can not save, there is no government which it 
can not reform. The Church, I fear, has greatly failed 
in the direct and practical application of Christianity. 
To some extent she has shut herself up from the world, 
as if to avoid contact with it, or to enjoy a devotional 
feeling undisturbed, or to acquire an influence which 
she fears she could not obtain or sustain while mingling 
with the crowd. However pure the motive may be, the 
principle on which this conduct is founded is false. Our 
Savior was practical; he walked with men, he stood 
among the multitude, he opened the closed eyes, he 
healed the broken heart, he reproved the guilty soul, he 
even ate with publicans and sinners; he threw light upon 
personal comfort and domestic repose, upon worldly obli- 
gations and secular duties; nothing too low to receive his 
notice; nothing too high to receive his rebuke. He bade 
us follow his example. His ministers, alas! have de- 
parted too much from it; they preach, perhaps as a general 

30 



354 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

rule, the great doctrines of the Scriptures, but they omit 
the little ones, or if they utter them, omit the application 
of them to the details of life. In the mother Church 
the functions of the ministry are separated, one set of 
men being appointed to preach, another to pray, and an- 
other to practice. Thus have arisen the various eleemos- 
ynary institutions of Catholics, such as brothers of pity, 
sisters of charity. My brethren, ought we not all to be 
brothers of pity, or sisters of charity? In the Protest- 
ant Church matters are still worse. The Church confines 
herself too much to discussion and song, and allows irre- 
ligious men to reform the world : hence temperance so- 
cieties, abolition societies, charitable institutions, etc. 
Now, whatever reform or relief is necessary to men, the 
Gospel can achieve, and that too without any other 
agency than the Church — the one that God has ordained. 
I have no complaint against these societies; my complaint 
is against the Church, that she has rendered them neces- 
sary. By this neglect she has been shorn, in a measure, 
of her beauty and her majesty, and has been deprived of 
some of the ablest auxiliaries and mightiest forces; has 
stripped off her most secure armor, and called forth her 
bitterest foes. Nor is this all; the various associations 
for human reformation and amelioration have, to a very 
great extent, been impeded by the violence and faithless- 
ness of their leaders. All organizations need the moder- 
ating and sustaining motives of religion; they need also 
the guidance and the blessing of God. I suppose that 
if the Church perfectly followed her Master, no associa- 
tions for specific objects of benevolence would be re- 
quired; but if otherwise, she should lead in them, and 
call upon all men every-where to follow her. How much 
more permanent, progressive, and beneficent, are moral 
organizations when in than when out of the bosom of the 
Church? Take the missionary, the Bible, and the 



PREACHING CHRIST. 355 

Sabbath school societies, for example. Moreover, when 
good is done by institutions which, however imbued by 
Christ's spirit and suggested by his example, do not ac- 
credit him with their good deeds, is he not robbed; and 
is not mankind defrauded of a proof and illustration of 
the Christian faith? Pardon me! I would rob no one, 
but I am covetous of my Savior's honor, and would have 
every chain on the limbs of innocence broken, and every 
cup of cold water to the thirsty sufferer given in his 
name. Be not ashamed of humble duties, Jesus was 
not; be not ashamed of staining your garments, Jesus 
walked in white through the world; he passed through 
poverty, and wretchedness, and vileness, without pollu- 
tion. There are many who affect a fear for the ministry 
which they do not feel; they are admonishing us to keep 
aloof from the turmoil of men, the scenes of vice, and 
particularly the turbid waters of politics, lest we compro- 
mise our dignity or defile our robes. They should re- 
member that men talked thus to the Savior; they did not 
happen to be his friends, however, but his enemies; they 
should bear in mind, too, that all sin is turbid, and that 
sinners could never be saved if mercy did not pursue 
them into filthy haunts. 

To preach Christ is to urge men to duty and salvation 
by the motives which Christ presents, and in the mode 
in which he presents them. The cross is the great mo- 
tive, the center and sun of the motive system; but it has 
its satellites — right, reward, punishment, the conscience 
void of offense, the worm that never dies, the man- 
sions of the Father's house and the fire that is never 
quenched, the welcome plaudit and the everlasting ban- 
ishment. Many of these motives have been used; they 
were used in speeches in the porch, the lyceum, and the 
academy; they were used in speeches in the Roman Sen- 
ate, but they had little force there, because they had 



356 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

little evidence-Jesus brought life and immortality to 
light. 

That the view that I have taken is correct, is manifest, 
,1. From the example of Christ. We have anticipated 
much that might be said on this head. In his life and 
preaching as it is contained in the evangelists, what 
beautiful symmetry ! what proportion of faith ! what har- 
mony of doctrine ! what balance of principle and prac- 
tice ! what appropriateness of illustration and instruc- 
tion ! In his conversation with Nicodemus he gives us 
the doctrine of regeneration; the nature, necessity, and 
mysteriousness of the new birth; the doctrine of the 
Spirit; the nature and extent of the atonement; and 
justification by faith in the Son of God. To the woman 
of Samaria he explained the spirituality of the kingdom 
of God. To the Pharisees he explained his own divinity, 
and the universality of his dominion and triumphs on 
earth. To the Sadducees he proclaimed the doctrine of 
the resurrection from the dead. To the Herodians — pol- 
iticians — he explained the subordination of civil govern- 
ment to God. To the Jews, who trusted in outward cer- 
emony, he explained the necessity of inward purity; to 
the Gentiles, the vanity of dumb idols; to his disciples 
he gave special instruction in regard to perfect trust in 
God, subjection to his will, and obedience to his truth; 
while to all he distinctly said, "I am the way, the truth, 
and the life." His Sermon on the Mount is a summary 
of morals in which no private, social, domestic, or polit- 
ical duty is omitted. General principles are given, by 
which we may at all times determine what God would 
have us do. His form of prayer how grand ! how com- 
prehensive! how flexible ! His parables how varied, ap- 
propriate, and pregnant of instruction ! 

2. From the example of the apostles. Take Paul, for 
instance. He adapts himself to men. At Jerusalem he 



PREACHING CHRIST. 357 

disputes with the Grecians. At Paphos he not only 
preaches the word to the inquiring Sergius Paulus, but 
administers a terrible rebuke to Elymas the sorcerer. In 
the synagogue of Antioch in Pisidia, he recites the whole 
history of the Jews before he describes the Messiah, and 
afterward quotes the prophets and the psalms. At Ico- 
nium — to a mixed assembly — he so spoke that a multi- 
tude, both of the Greeks and Jews, believed. At Lystra, 
among idolaters, worshipers of Jupiter and Mercury, he 
plants himself upon the great principles of natural re- 
ligion, exhorting men that they should turn from these 
vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and 
earth, the sea and all t things that are therein, and points 
to his witnesses in the falling rain and fruitful seasons, 
and hearts overflowing "with food and gladness. " At 
Thessalonica, in a synagogue of the Jews, he reasons out 
of the Scriptures, "opening and alleging that Christ 
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead." 
When encountering the Epicureans and Stoics at Athens, 
or preaching to the multitude on Mars' Hill, he takes for 
his text the inscription of an idol altar, and argues the 
folly of idolatry from the attributes of the Creator; the 
unity of the human, race from the relations of all men to 
the common Father; and the necessity of repentance 
from the future judgment; proceeding thus through the 
porticos of nature and providence to the temple of grace, 
wherein he exhibits Jesus and the resurrection. 

He adapts himself to occasions. At Corinth, where 
he finds men captious, he disputes as well as persuades, 
both in the synagogues and in the school of Tyrannus. 
At Miletus he consoles, and counsels, and warns his 
weeping elders, from whom he is departing for the last 
time, and calls them to witness that he had kept back 
"nothing that was profitable to them." At Jerusalem, to 
accommodate innocent prejudices, he stands, undergoing 



358 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

the ceremony of purification in the temple. When ad- 
dressing an infuriated mob from the steps of the castle, 
he softens their hearts with a recital of his own life and 
experience. Brought before a bigoted, usurping high- 
priest, he administers to him a withering rebuke. In 
the midst of an excited council, composed of heteroge- 
neous elements, he throws the apple of discord by men- 
tioning the doctrine of the resurrection. When before 
Felix, sitting as a judge, he confronted his accusers, and 
asserted his innocence; when before him as a man who 
had received bribes, committed excesses, and lived in 
adultery, he preached righteousness, temperance, and 
judgment to come. And how? Not out of the Scrip- 
tures, which Felix did not believe ; he reasoned and rea- 
soned, till his auditor trembled. When brought before 
Agrippa — who was a Jew — he argued Jesus and the res- 
urrection from the promise made unto the twelve tribes, 
and so argued, that when he said, "King Agrippa, be- 
lievest thou the prophets ? I know that thou believest," 
the King responded, "Almost thou persuadest me to be 
a Christian." When he is a shipwrecked voyager, he is 
not ashamed to act the part of a man as well as a minis- 
ter; giving directions concerning the company, and the 
soldiers, and the ship. 

Nor does he confine himself to preaching. He is the 
bearer of alms from the Churches at Antioch, and the 
bearer of dispatches from the council of Jerusalem. In 
his ordinary ministrations he visits from house to house ; 
he heals the sick, comforts the mourner, and encourages 
the fainting. Here he establishes believers, there he 
corrects heretics; here he disputes with infidels, there he 
rebukes bigots; sometimes ordaining elders, sometimes 
confirming disciples; sometimes exhorting the wavering 
to continuance in the faith, sometimes confronting rulers 
for violations of law and privilege. He was far from 



PREACHING CHRIST. 359 

being a man of one idea, or of one unvarying round of 
duty. His preaching did not slumber in his soul, nor set 
his hearers to sleep; it was living, inspiring, active, prac- 
tical, agitating. Like fire it spread over Asia Minor, 
Macedonia, Greece, and the islands of the iEgean. It 
disrobed priests, and shook idols, and alarmed nations; 
it excited envy, contradiction, and blasphemy; it stirred 
up devout and honorable women, and chief men not a 
few; it roused Gentiles, and provoked Jews, and divided 
multitudes; it evoked mobs, and filled their hands with 
stones, and their mouths with curses; it woke up the stu- 
pid Gallio, and put the prudent town clerk of Ephesus to 
his wits' ends; it shook the prison of Philippi, and 
alarmed the jailer, and perplexed and humbled the mag- 
istrates; it vexed the philosophers of the academy, and 
the sectaries of the temple; it set in motion the sol- 
diers, the doctors, and the lawyers, and troubled courts, 
and governors, and crowns — to use the language of his 
enemies, "It turned the world upside down." Amidst 
all this it enlightened minds, converted souls, comforted 
mourners, and saved men in the demonstration of the 
spirit and of power. 

The apostle not only preached, but wrote; and his epis- 
tles, like his preaching, illustrate my position. The 
evangelical doctrines pervade them; and there is an appli- 
cation of those doctrines to life, inner and outer, public 
and private. They abound in variety, they illustrate, 
apply, enlarge, and enforce the whole circle of truth con- 
tained in our Savior's discourses, conversations, para- 
bles, and life. Sp far from being exclusively of one idea, 
they surround the central truth of Christ crucified with 
a perfect and harmonious system of doctrines, precepts, 
and motives. They rebuke, and encourage, and guide, 
as well as instruct and correct. The Epistle to the Ro- 
mans proves that the whole system of Jewish rites is 



360 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

done away by Christ, and that man, whether Jew or 
Gentile, is justified by faith. The first Epistle to the 
Corinthians vindicates the apostle's character against the 
aspersions of a false teacher, furnishes instructions 
adapted to the peculiar circumstances and temptations of 
the Corinthians, and triumphantly argues the doctrine of 
the resurrection of the dead; the second gives topics 
of comfort, encouragement to steadfastness, and exhorta- 
tions to purity. The Epistle to the Galatians was penned 
to correct errors concerning the scope and intent of the 
Gospel, to elucidate its simplicity and perfection, and re- 
cord the proofs of the writer's apostleship. The Epistle 
to the Ephesians is an elevating and animating call to 
unity and diligence, to the correction of certain errors, 
and the illustration of various duties. The Colossians 
instructs and admonishes concerning certain false opin- 
ions which had been taught. The letter to the Philippi- 
ans is a grateful acknowledgment of bounty forwarded to 
him while a prisoner at Rome, by Epaphroditus, and a 
sublime exhibition of Gospel consolations. The Epistles 
to the Thessalonians discloses the depth of experience in 
the divine life which a Christian should feel; predicts 
the rise and fate of antichrist, and the order of the gen- 
eral resurrection. The first Epistle to Timothy contains 
specific directions relative to the qualifications and duties 
of various ecclesiastical offices, and exhortations to perse- 
verance in duty; the second gives Paul's paternal coun- 
sel to his son in the Gospel, when he was in daily expect- 
ation of martyrdom. The Epistle to Titus is a charge 
and instruction as to the peculiar duties of the pastorate 
of the island of Crete. The letter to Philemon is an ab- 
olition letter to a slaveholder of Colosse, sent by the 
hand of his slave,* who, having run away, happened to 

* If Ouesimus was a slave, which is doubtful. 



PREACHING CHRIST. 361 

hear the apostle preach at Rome, and to embrace the 
Christian faith, and whom the apostle sends back with a 
message to the master, beseeching him to receive him 
not as a slave, but as a brother beloved, as the apostle's 
own son, as Paul himself. The last letter in order — to 
the Hebrews — discusses the divinity of Christ, the supe- 
riority of the law to the Gospel, the true import of the 
Mosaic institution, and the purity and grandeur of the 
Christian calling. It was addressed to Jewish converts, 
and was calculated to reconcile them to the destruction 
of their temple, the loss of their priesthood, the aboli- 
tion of their sacrifices, their expulsion from Palestine, 
the extinction of their name among the nations, and the 
calling of the Gentiles. 

These epistles embrace an ample range of instruction, 
covering all human duties and obligations; all relations 
in Church and state ; all interests, spiritual and eternal. 

I close with one more argument — the inspired descrip- 
tion of ministers. Their titles are various — apostles, 
prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, embassadors, 
watchmen, shepherds, deacons, elders, bishops. So, also, 
are their functions — the perfecting of saints, the work of 
the ministry, the edifying of the body of Christ, feeding 
the flock with knowledge and understanding, turning 
sinners from darkness and from Satan, governing the 
Church, preserving the unity of the faith and the knowl- 
edge of the Son of God, and bringing converts to the 
stature of the fullness of Christ. Their gifts are vari- 
ous, differing according to the grace given — sons of thun- 
der and sons of consolation, arguing Pauls, declaiming 
Peters, musical Apollos; some to lay foundations, others 
to rear superstructures, others to polish columns; some 
adapted to address the skeptic, others the blasphemer, 
others the heretic; some for war, others for peace; some 
for defense, others for aggression, others for cultivation; 

31 



362 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

but all yours, all Christ's. Their qualifications are to be 
various. Though a minister might preach like Gabriel, 
this were not enough; he must be blameless, vigilant, 
sober, hospitable, of good behavior, good report, good 
family government, and patient, and humble, and liberal 
spirit; apt to teach; able, by sound doctrine, both to ex- 
hort and convince the gainsayers; diligent to preach the 
word; instant in season and out of season to reprove, re- 
buke, exhort, with all long-suffering, and doctrine, and 
authority, and to watch against men that speak perverse 
things; to give attendance to reading, and exhortation, 
and doctrine, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and 
oppositions of science falsely so called; willing to en- 
dure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, and 
make full proof of the ministry, studying rightly to di- 
vide the word of truth. This word was not, therefore, 
simple. 

But what further need have we of argument? You 
see that the work of the ministry is not simple, but com- 
plex; not narrow, but comprehensive. We have too long 
depreciated it; time now we magnified it. It is the light 
of the world, the salt of the earth ; designed, like the sun, 
silently to guide the whole earth, and, like the salt un- 
seen, to purify its waters; to sanctify states and sciences, 
as well as souls; to write holiness to God on the bells of 
the horses, as well as the gates of the temples; to 
spread over all, peace on earth, good will to men, and 
glory to God in the highest. 



music. 363 



MUSIC is the art of producing sounds agreeable to a 
well-tuned ear. It is probably coeval with man. 

In some of the first pages of the earliest history extant 
we find a notice of instruments of music. In Genesis iv, 
21, we read that Jubal, sixth in descent from Cain, was the 
" father of all such as handle the harp and organ. " After 
the passage of the Israelites across the Red Sea, we find 
that Moses and the children of Israel sang a triumphant 
ode to God, commencing, "I will sing unto the Lord;" and 
Miriam took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women 
went out after her with timbrels and danced, and Miriam 
answered them, or sang the chorus, "Sing ye to the 
Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and 
his rider hath he thrown into the sea." 0, what a song! 
issuing from the lips of a choir about three million 
strong, and swelling on the breeze to commemorate their 
deliverance both from bondage and death ! 

Before we leave the Pentateuch we meet with allusions 
to three classes of musical instruments; namely, stringed, 
as the harp; wind, as the trumpet; and pulsatile, as the 
tabret. As we advance in Jewish history we find the al- 
lusions to music more frequent, and the instruments more 
various; as harps, psalteries, timbrels, cymbals, cornets, 
and trumpets. The harp was of different kinds, some- 
times having three, sometimes eight, and sometimes ten 
strings. When it had but eight, it was called sheminith. 
It was at first swept with the fingers, but afterward with 



364 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

a bow. The psaltery differed from the harp in having 
twelve strings, which were swept by the hand. From 
these the sweet singer of Israel sent forth his sounding 
numbers, raising his melodious voice in unison with his 
notes as he sang the high praises of God. The tabret or 
timbrel was like our taniborine, a hoop of wood or brass, 
over which was drawn a piece of skin, and around which 
were hung a number of little bells; it was held with the 
left hand, and beaten with the right. The cymbals con- 
sisted of two flat pieces of brass, one held in each hand, 
and brought together with a ringing noise. They may 
be seen in many military bands at the present day. The 
trumpet or horn was made out of ox or ram's horns, and 
chiefly used in war. The pipe was like a flute ; and the 
organ was a combination of pipes, usually seven, each 
having a different sound; it was blown as it was passed 
backward and forward under the mouth. 

Egypt has been called the cradle of the arts, and many 
have supposed that she taught the Hebrews music in 
their house of bondage. She is also supposed to have 
sent her science of sweet strains to her colonies in 
Greece. Certain it is that Pythagoras learned his mu- 
sical science of her priests, Plato praises her songs, and 
Strabo informs us that they were matters of her legisla- 
tive regulation; while her monuments attest the antiq- 
uity of her musical taste, the guitar and harp being 
drawn upon the oldest obelisks and tombs. 

In Egypt music was hereditary, as it seems to have 
been among the Hebrews, who consecrated it to the tribe 
of Levi. 

She claims, without dispute, the invention of the 
single flute, which was among the most ancient of instru- 
ments. 

Greece was distinguished for her music as well as her 
poetry. We know but little of the state of the art prior 



music. 365 

to the time of Homer, save that the flute, the syrinx, and 
the lyre were favorite instruments, and Amphion, Chiron, 
Orpheus, and Linus, distinguished performers. 

Homer unites music and poetry, and speaks of them as 
inseparable. He celebrates Thamyras, who lost his ey&B 
and voice for contending with the Muses ; Demodocus, 
whom he paints blind, but, nevertheless, the glory of his 
race ; and Phemius, who is said to have been his own 
master. These musicians wandered about, singing their 
works in the cities and assemblies of their country. In 
later times Thaletes, Archilochus, Terpander, and Tyr- 
taius, are named among eminent poets and musicians. 
The first is said to have been next after Hesiod and 
Homer, the second the inventor of lyric poetry, and the 
last of military airs. 

After the establishment of the Grecian games, music 
became a much-coveted and cultivated accomplishment, 
for it was employed to animate all the combats, and was 
admitted to a share of the prizes. Under Pericles it 
arose to such importance, that ignorance of its science, 
or inexpertness in its practice, was deemed disgraceful. 
This great man, among other acts which he performed to 
patronize and encourage music, built the Odeon for re- 
hearsal — prior to performance in the theater — indeed, 
to such excess was devotion to music carried, that poetry 
took a rank secondary to it. In vain did Plato, Aristotle, 
and Plutarch exclaim against this extravagance, and 
plead the higher claims of severer studies and more ra- 
tional accomplishments. What they could not do, how- 
ever, the Roman sword did; for after the subjugation of 
Greece, her music gradually degenerated, till it became 
barbarous. 

The Romans learned music of the Etruscans, and first 
employed it at their sacrifices. Their earliest instru- 
ments were horns and flutes. In later periods music was 



366 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

combined with dramatic representations ; it did not, how- 
ever, receive much patronage from Roman rulers, except 
in the later years of the empire, when two of the greatest 
monsters of iniquity and cruelty, by an unaccountable 
incongruity, appear as its passionate admirers — Nero and 
Commodus. The fall of the western empire was the fall 
of music. 

The rise of the Christian Church was the restoration 
of the fine arts; and Italy, her distinguished seat, has 
ever since been their chosen nursery. The chant of the 
Catholic Church, which is said to be the noblest mon- 
ument of the musical art, and incapable of improvement, 
is ascribed to that holy and eminent father, St. Ambrose. 
From the Church, music proceeded in all directions, till 
it charmed the streets, the solitudes, and the courts of 
Europe. It was not till 1022, however, that Guido — a 
monk — designated, by points distributed upon lines and 
spaces, the different sounds of the octave, whose notes 
he is said to have named ut, re, me, fa, sol, la, from the 
first syllables of the hymn of St. John Baptist : 

Ut queant laxis resonare fibris, 
Mira gestorum famuli tuorum, 
Solvi pollute labii reatum. 

The syllable si was subsequently added by Le Maire. 

The science continued to advance among the Italians. 
In 1330 John De Musis contrived the grand musical 
scale now in use. In the middle of the fifteenth century 
the laws of harmony became fully understood, and the 
broad basis was laid for the refined combinations of mod- 
ern music. 

Not only in Italy, but wherever the Christian religion 
has been received, music has been cultivated; and Flan- 
ders, Germany, France, and England have produced some 
of the most celebrated performers the world has ever seen. 






music. 367 

The tomb of Orlando d'Lasso bears the following ep- 
itaph : 

" Hie ille Orlandus Lassum, qui recreat orbem." 

The names of Handel, Haydn, Mozart, are familiar as 
household words. The musical talent of Handel mani- 
fested itself before he was eight years old. At that early 
period he was accustomed to steal into a remote apart- 
ment when the rest of the family were wrapped in slum- 
ber, to practice upon the harpsichord, and at nine he 
composed motets for the service of the Churches. 
Haydn, the son of a poor wheelwright, accidentally at- 
tracted, in his eighth year, the attention of a chapel 
master of Vienna, by his wonderful voice. Mozart seems 
little less than a miracle. He put forth his invention in 
grand, original compositions at five years of age, and at- 
tempted notation which could hardly be deciphered; and 
being carried abroad at that infantile age, he entranced 
audiences in Bavaria, Munich, Vienna, Paris, London, 
and charmed alike emperors, kings, courts, and crowds. 
All these musicians continued to enjoy an enlargement 
of their powers and their skill to the last hour of life. 
From the history, let us pass to the power of music : 
1. No mean proof of this is found in the fact that in 
all lands it has been traced to celestial origin. In the 
Bible we learn that when the earth was finished the morn- 
ing stars sang together for joy. Then must there have 
been music in heaven. This accounts for the fact that 
mythology ascribes its origin to the gods; thus, the 
Greeks attributed^ the lyre to Hermes. According to Di- 
odorus, at the marriage of Cadmus with Harmonia, there 
was a grand concert of the gods; Mercury brought his 
lyre, Apollo a similar instrument, and Minerva and the 
Muses their flutes. Bacchus is represented as the founder 
of schools of music. 



368 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

2. The greatest men, both of ancient and modern 
times, have been among the advocates and patrons of mu- 
sic. We need but mention Pericles and Socrates, amono- 
the ancients; and Luther and Wesley, among the mod- 
erns. It has been patronized by kings, and regulated by 
legislatures; as in Greece in the days of Pericles, when 
music was deemed essential to education; and in the 
times of Servius Tullius, who, in his division of the peo- 
ple into classes, directed that two entire centuries should 
consist of trumpeters, hornblowers, and those who sounded 
the charge; and as in the days of David and Solomon, 
when the musicians were regularly trained and supported 
by government. It received special attention from rulers 
under the Ptolemies, the Antonines, and the Popes. 

8. Another strong proof of music's power is the fact 
that it usually makes its celebrated performers and 
composers rich. Money is the best index to the value 
which men put upon things. One of the myths concern- 
ing Apollo shows how lucrative the profession of music 
was in the fabulous ages. It is said that he stripped 
Marsyas of his hide, not that he flayed him alive; but 
that he threw the flute — the instrument which brought 
Marsyas his riches — into discredit by introducing the 
lyre, and thus prevented him from getting any more 
hides — for the money of those times was made out of 
leather. It seems, however, that flute stock afterward re- 
vived, for we read that Ismenias, a Theban musician, 
paid about three thousand dollars for a flute; a pretty 
good proof that such instruments either found men rich, 
or made them so. And this is strengthened by the state- 
ments concerning the walls of this same Thebes, which 
Amphion is said to have erected with his lyre. 

Modern musicians have generally fared well in this 
world's goods. Handel, though his fortune was broken 
late in life, nevertheless left one hundred thousand 



MUSIC. 

dollars at his death. And the society which he founded 
derived about thirty thousand dollars for one musical en- 
tertainment, in commemoration of his honor. Haydn 
was raised by his voice, from poverty to ease and com- 
fort. Mozart, though reckless and imprudent in the 
management of his finances, lived in style, and might 
have commanded palaces. Jenny Lind is, or may be, 
even in her blooming youth, a millionaire. 

So much for performers. And if a distinguished com- 
poser be not rich, it is his own fault; for an indifferent 
ballad often brings fifty dollars, and the music for a 
drama from one to six thousand dollars. Even in Ger- 
many, where such services command the least remuner- 
ation, Mozart obtained two hundred and fifty dollars for 
the Magic Flute, ten times as much as Milton received 
for his Paradise Lost. 

The musician is rewarded with honor. Under the god 
and demigod, the distinguished performers were deified; 
in later ages they were the companions and tutors of he- 
roes, kings, and philosophers. Thus, Chiron was the in- 
structor of Achilles, and Linus of Hercules. The highest 
honors at the Grecian games were often assigned to mu- 
sicians. Thus, Terpander carried off successively four of 
the prizes of the Pythean games. It is true, this musi- 
cian suffered a little reverse of fortune; for, having added 
three strings to the lyre, the Ephori — those rude magis- 
trates of the ruder Spartans — fined him. At a later pe- 
riod they banished Timotheus for adding two strings 
more. Poor men ! they were afraid of innovation — afraid 
lest the improvement might corrupt the ears of the youth 
with too great a variety of notes. 

Though these men have always had representatives on 
earth, the march of the musician round the world is like 
the march of a conqueror. How much more golden and 
glorious was the progress of the sweet songstress of 



370 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

Sweden, than was that of the exiled and eloquent patriot 
of Hungary ! 

In many nations and ages musicians have not only been 
admitted to palaces, but considered inspired. Orpheus is 
said to have moved even stones and trees; and the pretty 
fable of his descent, after his lost wife Euridyce, to the 
infernal regions, where he charmed Cerberus, and even 
Pluto, is but a significant representation of the feeling of 
mankind in all ages. What shall we say, however, of the 
story of the Thracian women, who, out of jealousy, mur- 
dered him, even while his lyre, falling into the Hebrus, 
sent forth its plantive sounds without its master's fingers, 
as it floated down toward Lesbos? If this be true to na- 
ture, let the performer beware ! 

Let us now pass to the applications of music. After 
the decline of music among the stern Romans, we find 
the orators using it to pitch their voices; each one 
having a flute player behind him. We learn that the 
Emperor Augustus, when he was advanced in life, em- 
ployed a musician to regulate his intonations in ordinary 
conversation. This reminds us of the story of Sir Isaac 
Newton using the finger of a lady to whom he was 
making love, for the purpose of pressing down the to- 
bacco in his pipe; but this is an exception to the general 
rule. Usually, music was employed for honorable uses. 
It has been employed in all ages to contribute to the 
amusement of private and public circles of pleasure ; to 
beguile the shepherd as he watches his flocks; to enliven 
birthdays, marriages, and other seasons of festivity, and 
to give utterance to the gratitude of the agriculturist, 
when he shouts the harvest home. It has also been used 
as a medicina mentis, to relieve the tedium of irksome 
duty, to dissolve oppressive cares, to allay the agitation 
of a troubled mind, and revive the spirits of the languid. 
Thus, in mythology, Bacchus is represented as never 



music. 371 

happy unless within the sound of Pan's sweet flute. In 
the Bible we learn that Saul was cured of melancholy by 
the harp of David. In Homer we find Achilles consol- 
ing himself under insult by playing on the lyre, and 
Paris trying his skill upon the strings, to obliviate the 
disgrace of having fled before his foes. Luther was de- 
votedly fond of music, and in all his troubles sought re- 
lief in song, as well as prayer. Aristotle well denomin- 
ated music the medicine of heaviness; and a song of 
ancient Lacedaemon says, "that a good player on a flute 
would make a man brave every danger, and even face iron 
itself." Hence, we need not wonder that it has been em- 
ployed in -war. From earliest times arms have clashed 
on arms at the sound of the pean. Tyrteus was at once 
celebrated as soldier and musician, and inventor of mil- 
itary airs. He achieved a victory for the Lacedaemonians 
by leading them against their enemies, to the sound of 
his martial flute. Timotheus was a special favorite of 
Alexander, and led that great general to arms by the an- 
imating notes of his favorite instrument. In the middle 
ages Prince Conrad led out his forces against Charles I 
of Sicily, with a female choir, singing, accompanied by 
cymbals, drums, flutes, violins, and other instruments. 

But the chief application of music in all ages has 
been to religion. A few remarks on the music of the 
Christian Church. 

Church music, anterior to the days of Gregory, was 
strictly a sacred exercise, but subsequently it seems to 
have been cultivated merely as a fine art, and employed 
in the chants of the cathedral, as the pencil and the 
chisel were on its walls. After the Reformation it was 
restored to its place as a spiritual exercise; but latterly, 
and especially in this country, it appears to be in a tran- 
sition state in the Churches; a subject of contention be- 
tween two parties, each of which occupies extreme 



372 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

ground. One party is_ jealous of all science ; and if they 
could have their way, they would make a sort of music 
which men could hear as easily as any other noise. 
They seem perfectly satisfied if only they can fit the 
world to the tune, even though the one be short measure 
and the other long. Should one side of the audience 
sing in quick time, and the other in slow, it gives them 
no particular uneasiness; for the quick singers can wait 
at the end of a strain for the others to catch up. As to 
choir or chorister they give themselves no trouble j for, as 
in the street there will always be found some idle boy to 
pitch a copper, so in the church there will always be 
found some willing soul to pitch the tune. The views of 
these brethren, if carried out, would lead the Church to 
dispense, not only with note-books, but hymn-books, and 
every other kind. This is one extreme; but I am bound 
to say there is another. This regards singing merely as 
an accomplishment. A few questions will enable us to 
draw a just medium on this subject. 

By whom should the music be led? — and this is a 
far more important question than that of choirs, instru- 
ments, etc. I answer, saints ! Would you ask sinners to 
preach, or lead the prayers of the Church? What a 
sorry reason for doing so would it be to say that they un- 
derstand the science of elocution, or that they have 
voices of extraordinary compass and sweetness ! What a 
poor excuse, too, would it be to say that holy men com- 
posed the matter which they utter! There is no more 
reason for asking sinners to lead the singing, than to lead 
the prayers of the Church; both are divine ordinances. 

The impropriety must be seen, further, when we con- 
sider that singing is the utterance of admonition, and 
Christian emotion. What an awful farce for trifling sin- 
ners to utter such solemn words as these : 

"Lo, glad I come, and thou blest Lamb;" 



music. 373 

or for unrenewed hearts to cry out in hypocritical false- 
ness, 

" 0, would he more of heaven bestow, 
And let the vessels break !" 

The feeling which leads Churches to put wicked men 
in the choir because of their superior musical skill, 
would, if carried out, lead them to dramatize the Gospel, 
and turn the Church into a theater. Let the singing be 
as much a matter for godly judgment as any other part 
of divine worship, and let Church judicatories select the 
leaders of their music with as much care as they do their 
ministers. 

How shall the singing be performed? In such a way 
that it may accomplish its end, which is not musical sen- 
timentality, but the utterance of religious truth, and de- 
votional feeling. There is a style of music which de- 
stroys the matter in the sound. What would you think 
of an orator whose attention was altogether taken up 
with the harmony of his sentences, or the melody of his 
voice ? There may be occasions on which it is proper — 
as in concerts — that music shall be the primary object, 
but such occasions are not found in the worship of God. 

Luther and the reformers generally composed such sa- 
cred strains as uninstructed people might soon be taught 
to sing, and cautioned against a relapse into the compli- 
cated music of the mother Church. John Wesley's cau- 
tion against fugue tunes is still on record in the Disci- 
pline. 

Do not misunderstand me. I would not discourage the 
cultivation of music as a fine art, or the study of the 
performances adapted to the oratorio, as well as those 
adapted to the Church; but I would have the two classes 
of music kept distinct, and each confined to its proper 
sphere. 



374 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS ESSAYS. 

This appears the more important when we consider 
that singing is not only a divine ordinance, but a Chris- 
tian privilege. We have no more right to introduce 
such music as can not be easily learned by our religious 
assemblies, than to pray in an unknown tongue, however 
beautiful, or to use language in the pulpit, which, though 
charming to ourselves, the greater body of our hearers 
can not understand. 

The more elevated music can scarce be expected to 
have many cultivators in our country. Music, like stat- 
uary and painting, can hardly flourish under a republic, 
especially where wealth is so equally divided as it is here. 
Where could you find performers capable of executing 
some of the productions of the best masters, which, I 
have been told, require five or six hundred skillful musi- 
cians? or where find the wealth to compensate them for 
their performances ? 

No land on earth is better adapted to Church music; 
the people are generally religious, education is widely 
diffused, and the circumstances of the masses are such 
as to allow them sufficient leisure for such a degree of 
musical skill as will qualify them to join in praising God 
in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. 

Let us cultivate music; not merely as an elegant ac- 
complishment or a delightful amusement, but a privilege 
of the Christian; an ordinance of God; a means of spir- 
itual edification and comfort; and a preparation for 
heaven. 

"Let your hearts [as well as instruments] in tune be found, 
Like David's harp of 'solemn sound." 

Brethren of the Church generally, inquire what is 
your duty. Have you learned how to sing ? Have you 
instructed your children ? Do you feel a religious obli- 
gation to promote the science of music ? 



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